Tokyo Olympics: Hot weather a challenge for sailing squad
KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 -- The scorching hot weather in Enoshima Yacht Harbour is among the hitches faced by the national sailing camp in the Tokyo Olympic Games scheduled to start from July 23 to August 8.
The sailing location which will raise its curtain on July 25 for the world’s biggest sporting event, is located in Fujisawa, about 70 kilometres from Tokyo.
Coach Muhammad Sahir A Rahim said his charges have started the first training session yesterday after arriving in Tokyo on July 8 and they have to sail to the middle of the sea at temperature hotter than Malaysia at between 33 to 35 degrees Celsius.
“I have reminded them to drink enough water and carry an ice box to cool themselves,” he said when contacted by Bernama.
Muhammad Sahir said there would also be more demanding challenges awaiting the country’s sailors when wind speed there is expected to pick up from six to eight knots to 13 knots in the next few days.
Besides that, he said the athletes could also expect uncertain weather like rain during the period.
However, Muhammad Sahir said so far no technical snags were detected on the boats of his sailors.
Four sailing athletes are carrying Malaysia’s challege in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
They are Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy for men’s laser event, Nur Shazrin Mohd Latif (women’s laser ), as well as Nuraisyah Jamil and Juni Karimah Noor Jamali (both in the women’s International 470 event).
Meanwhile, Nur Shazrin, who will be making her second Olympics appearance after Rio 2016, is looking forward to compete with the best sailors in the world in the Land of the Rising Sun.
“I am excited to see how far I have progressed. I promise to fight till the end for Malaysia,” she said in a post on National Sports Council’s Facebook page today.
In Rio 2016, the 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist finished 33rd in laser radial event in her Olympics debut.
-- BERNAMA
