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SCMP Reporter

Hong Kong's Chan King-yin  won the battle in the medal race yesterday but had to settle for the honour of leading Asian sailor in the RS:X class  at the Olympic sailing centre in Qingdao.
In a race involving the top 10 windsurfers to decide the final rankings, Chan led all the way in light wind conditions - which he favours - and improved his final ranking from seventh to sixth place, with 84 penalty points.
It was the best Olympic performance by a male Hong Kong sailor.
Chan was already out of the race for gold, silver and bronze, but his victory kept him ahead of China's Wang Aichen,  who finished seventh overall on 95 points.
Tom Ashley  (52 points) of New Zealand, who was third after the 10-race series,  edged out Julien Bontemps  of France by a point to clinch the gold. Shahar Zubari  of Israel, the leader in the opening stages, finished third.
In the women's event, Hong Kong's Vicky Chan Wai-kei  finished ninth in the medal race and secured ninth place overall,  with 93 points.
'Both of them performed very well in Qingdao and have shown  great potential to do well in future events,' said Hong Kong team coach Rene Appel.  'They have gained a lot of experience of racing against a strong fleet, and we can build on that kind of experience to prepare our squad for the next Olympic Games in London.'
Still, Appel said,  if Hong Kong was  serious about winning medals in London,   a specific  support cycle should be created for individual sports.
'We need a long-term strategy if we want to not only do well but win medals at the Olympic Games. An Olympic support cycle takes at least four years and the authorities should consider it seriously because it will definitely cost more money. Otherwise, we can never turn dreams into reality.'
Appel cited the example of the Great Britain team - the most successful nation in the sailing events in Qingdao - who won three gold medals and a bronze medal.
'They have been putting a lot of money into sailing by aiming at winning medals in the Olympic Games, and at the end of the day it paid off.'



Chan sails in first but settles for honour of fastest Asian surfer