Kendall in medal hunt with other NZ sailors

Kendall in medal hunt with other NZ sailors

Date Released: 14 April 2004

From: Simon Wickham

New Zealand's Golden Girl of Windsurfing leads Kiwi results at Mistral boardsailing Worlds

Barbara Kendall is off to a great start showing Top 3 medal form again at the Mistral World Championships in Turkey.

Kendall is currently placed 3rd after 4 races. Alessandra Sensini (Italy) is currently leading and looking strong with 3 wins from 4 races.

After 6 races of 12 for the men's title, New Zealand Olympic trial winner and Olympic nominee Thomas Ashley leads the New Zealanders in 6th spot on 26 points trailing 3rd place by just 4 points.

Jon Paul Tobin lies just outside the Top 10 presently in 12th place on 33 points after winning race 4.

Other New Zealand sailors at the event:

David Robertson (45th)
Matt McCormick (46th)

Anna Eason (40th)

Racing in Turkey concludes on April 17

Aaron McIntosh and Mark Kennedy are poised on the cusp of qualification for Athens in the Tornado Catamaran at the 2004 World Championships after 2 races
The Tornado Olympic Catamaran class Worlds are underway in Palma, Mallorca and they are a showdown for the last remaining spots at the Olympic Games.

Aaron McIntosh/Mark Kennedy are working hard to qualify New Zealand for a spot at the Games and gain themselves nomination to the Olympic team. The duo lie 18th overall after 2 races and must finish ahead of the other nations trying to qualify their country for a place at Athens.

McIntosh and Kennedy currently are just 4 points behind the 16th placed team of Puh and Biderman from Slovenia who presently hold the 4th and last country spot available.

They will be striving to climb the leaderboard as the regatta progresses.

The 13 countries already qualified are:
2002 Worlds - Argentina Australia Austria France Sweden
2003 Worlds - Spain Great Britain Germany Italy Netherlands Puerto Rico USA

New Kiwi combination await the start of the 49er Skiff World Championships at the Olympic venue in Athens

Having finally cleared their yacht through customs in Athens the New Zealand team of Adam Beashel and Ed Smythe are now able to focus on winning a spot for themselves and New Zealand at the Athens Olympics at the upcoming 49er class World championships.

The Worlds take place in the same waters as the Olympic Games off the coast of Athens.

Racing starts 14 April (tonight NZ time) and concludes 19 April.

There are 5 country spots left to qualify for the Games. 14 Countries have already qualified as follows:
2002 Worlds - Denmark Spain Great Britain Italy Netherlands Ukraine
2003 Worlds - Australia Austria Brazil Germany Norway Poland Switzerland USA

ENDS

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