San San denied title on points count-back

LEE Lai-shan's hopes of bagging her first win of 1998 were dashed yesterday after a fine display from Natasha Sturgess saw the Australian windsurfer squeeze to victory in the Sail Melbourne Regatta.

World champion San San, who had started the day heading the field, needed to win the ninth and final race to be sure of taking the title but settled for second.

Her bid for the title vanished after Sturgess surged away from the field to cross the finishing line first.

Although both Sturgess and San San finished with the same number of points - 14 - Sturgess' better finishes in her two discarded races were to prove critical.

Sturgess had discarded her performances in races three and four, when she finished fourth on each occasion. San San's discards came in races two and three when she finished in seventh and fifth place respectively.

'San San was always close to Sturgess but was just unable to get past her,' San San's coach Rene Appel said.

'Overall she has performed well this week and is confident about the Sail Auckland regatta next week.' Although San San was unable to hold on to her Sail Melbourne title, her performance in the regatta has all but assured her of her place in Hong Kong's team for the Asian Games. Her only other challenger for a place in the Hong Kong Asian Games squad, promising youngster Olivia Chan Hoi-suen, could only finish 10th overall after her 10th place in yesterday's final race.

Chan would almost certainly have to win next week's Auckland event to have any chance of earning selection ahead of San San for the Asian Games.

In the men's event in Melbourne, Hong Kong's Sam Wong Tak-sum finished 11th overall after finishing yesterday's final race in seventh place.

Sweden's Fredrik Palm took overall honours ahead of Germany's Alexander Baronjan.