Kenshuin Blog: 15th Asian Games ~ Doha 2006

The 15th Asian Games, (officially known as the XV Asiad, is Asia's Olympic-style sporting event) was held in Doha, Qatar from December 1 to 15, 2006. Now that the Games are over, there is much to celebrate, for Team Singapore went home with 27 medals, 8 gold, 7 sliver and 12 bronze. Congratulations to Team Singapore especially the Keelboat crew in the Beneteau 7.5 Open Match Racing.

The Keelboat quintet of Teo Wee Chin, Ivan Tan, Roy Tay, Renfred Tay and Justin Wong beat India 3-1 to claim Singapore's 8th gold medal of the Asian Games.
Match racing debuted at the Asian Games in 2006 with most sailors coming across from various double handed classes. Competition was close throughout, with boats consistently finishing within seconds of each other.
Team India, the Asian champions and experienced favourites looked strong in all the preliminary rounds. But Singapore's youthful and light five-man crew prevailed.
In a tense finale, Singapore beat India after India was penalised for infringing a right of way rule just before the finish line. Korea and Thailand battled it out for the bronze with Korea cruising to an easy victory.

“Just metres from the finish line, we jibed on port and they were on starboard so we had to give them right of way, but . . . .".
Ivan Tan, one of the winning Singapore crew described the race and how the team came together, "Awesome, awesome, the whole unit just functions together. We are such a great team. I have never been to anything like this [Asian Games]. I had the opportunity to come here and it has just been the best experience.
"It was very, very close. We led for most of the race. We were first to the first bottom mark, then we got some breeze and took off, then they got breeze.
“At the bottom mark we called water on them (had to allow buoy room), then they lifted (got a wind shift).
“Just metres from the finish line, we jibed on port and they were on starboard so we had to give them right of way, but while we were giving them room they jibed back onto us infringing the right of way rule so they had to do a turn and that allowed us to win the race.
"The results show who is on top, but they don't show how close the races have been. Today [Wednesday, 13 December] it came down to who sailed a little bit better, and we somehow managed to sail a bit better."