HIGH-FLYING board sailor Lee Lai-shan is confident she can finish among the medals at the World Championships in September following three major European triumphs in the past month. The two-time Asian female champion, known as San San, underlined her ability by showing her rivals a clean pair of heels at the Eurolympic in England, the Kiel Week Regatta in Germany and the IMCO European Championship in Belgium. Lee's remarkable run of success has shot her to the top of the world rankings and made her the outright favourite for the World Championships in Japan. ''All the top girls were in Belgium with the exception of New Zealand's Olympic champion Barbara Kendall and Zhang Xiaodong of China,'' said coach Rene Appel on their return yesterday. ''World champion Maud Herbert of France was also there but San San dominated every race and won the European title convincingly. ''She'll be meeting the same opposition in Japan and she is definitely a strong medal chance,'' said Appel. Lee, the first Asian sailor to win the European crown, is delighted with her results. She said: ''This tour must be the highlight of my career up till now and a great confidence booster. ''I can now handle the strong winds much better than before and no matter what the conditions are like in Japan, I'm very confident of doing well.'' There will be no holiday for the 22-year-old and her national squad teammates, Sam Wong Tak-sum and Ken Wong Hop-hi, as they will resume training early next week. Sam Wong also returned with a trophy, for finishing second in England. Their final preparations for the World Championships and the Asian Championships, also to be held in Japan in September, will be centred on physical training but they will also compete in two domestic events.
