Tzuberi drops to third in windsurfing competition

Aug 17, 2008 6:45 | Updated Aug 17, 2008 9:45
By ALLON SINAI AND JPOST.COM STAFF
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Shahar Tzuberi dropped two places to third in the Olympic windsurfing competition in Beijing on Sunday morning.

Tzuberi ended the sixth race in sixth place, but then finished a disastrous 19th in the seventh race, and for the first time since the start of the competition, dropped from the gold medal spot.

The 21-year-old finished in 17th position on Friday but had held on to first place as he was entitled to drop one race result from his overall score.

There are four races remaining in the competition, including the final, which will be contested by the leading ten competitors only.

Meanwhile, in the Neil Pryde sailing competition, Ma'ayan Davodovich was in 13th place overall after ended her sixth race in 14th position. Two more races were scheduled for Sunday in the competition.

On Saturday, two poor races may have cost Nike Kornicki and Vered Buskila an Olympic medal in the women's 470 Class sailing, while medal hopes Udi Gal and Gidi Kliger finished a disappointing 14th in the men's event.

Kornicki and Buskila dropped from third to fourth after only finishing the day's races in 11th and 15th place, allowing Brazilians Fernanda Oliveira and Isabel Swan to leapfrog them with just the medal race remaining.

The Israelis, however, are still in with a good chance of standing on the podium on August 18 following the decisive medal race in Qingdao, as they only trail Oliveira and Swan by four points.

Should the Israelis finish two places above the Brazilians they will overtake them, due to the double points awarded in the medal race.

"We're disappointed, but this is not the end of the world," Buskila told Sport5. "We are doing our best and things just didn't go our way today."

On Friday, Kornicki and Buskila seemed to have taken a huge step to winning a medal when they finished the day's races in third and first position respectively, but Saturday's performance now means that they no longer have their fate in their own hands.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that there are also three teams within seven points the Israelis, who could overtake them on Monday.

Gal and Kliger would be more than happy to have the problems of Kornicki and Buskila, as they will not be even competing in the men's 470 medal race after finishing in 14th place overall.

On Friday, the duo, which was Israel's best medal hope ahead of the Games, managed its only top-10 finish of the week, coming in second position in the day's second race.

In the three other races of the weekend, however, Gal and Kliger failed to break the top 12 and deserved no more than their very disappointing overall finish.

"We feel terrible," Gal said. "We prepared ourselves for every scenario except this one. In the last two years we've only failed in two competitions."

In the Laser Radial, Nofer Edelman is in 16th position after finishing in 15th and 25th on Friday and Saturday.