Tag: sport

Volvo Ocean Race Sailors Prepare For Rough Re-start in Cape Town

Strong winds are forecast for the start of Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race on Sunday afternoon in Cape Town as the famous ‘Cape Doctor’ – a strong southeasterly wind – pays a visit over the weekend.

On Saturday morning the doctor made a house call bringing a steady 40 knots of wind, and at least one gust of over 60 knots was recorded. This is expected to moderate somewhat for Sunday’s race start, but winds are forecast to remain in the 25 to 35 knot range, with some gusts significantly stronger.

“It’s going to be full-on for the start,” says Vestas 11th Hour Racing navigator Simon Fisher. “Very strong southeasterlies and then when we get offshore it will be a decent sea-state we’re banging into as well. It will soften a bit but then we’re quickly into the westerlies and it’s the proper Southern Ocean. It’s going to be an intense leg in general.”

“It could be very windy for the first week and very high speed,” agreed Charles Caudrelier, skipper of Dongfeng Race Team. “I think it’s going to be a fantastic leg.”

Leg 3, from Cape Town to Melbourne, Australia is a nominal 6,500 nautical miles. The routing takes the teams down into the ‘Roaring Forties’, the area south of 40-degrees latitude where storm systems circle Antarctica, unimpeded by any land mass. Towering waves, steady gale and storm force winds, and ice-cold temperatures are a daily feature here.

“We should remember it’s late spring, just the beginning of summer and the winter has just passed in the Southern Hemisphere so the water is still bloody cold,” said race veteran Bouwe Bekking, the skipper of Team Brunel.

“I think the most frightening thing is that the depressions are still so strong… the amount of pressure that is in the air is just humongous. And of course, the water temperatures – hopefully with the ice limits we don’t encounter any ice – but if the water is just a few degrees above freezing and you get a southerly breeze, you might be having icicles off the mast some times. We’ve experienced it in the past… When we did this leg in the old days, this was the leg when the most damage appeared. The boats today are stronger than before, but still things can break.”

Deciding when to push for speed and when to throttle back to protect crew and equipment is a delicate balance. The stakes are even higher as this is the first double-point leg. The winner of Leg 3 will collect 15 points (7 x 2 = 14 plus a 1 point win bonus).

“I think we have a lot of experience on our boat and we have to trust that experience in the Southern Ocean,” explained Charlie Enright, skipper of Vestas 11th Hour Racing talking about finding the balance of how hard to push. “It not just about the points, it’s the fact we don’t haul-out in Melbourne, it’s the heavy conditions in the Southern Ocean, because you don’t want to break anything…To finish first, you must first finish.”

For Xabi Fernández, the skipper of MAPFRE, the race leader, the stopover in Cape Town provided a much needed opportunity to recharge.

“After the first long leg (Lisbon to Cape Town), it’s always important to be in the front,” he said. “We’re happy as a team. We had a good stopover. The boat is in great shape and the team is as well, so we’re ready to go.”

The start of Leg 3 is scheduled for 2pm in Cape Town, 12:00 UTC, and will be broadcast live on www.volvooceanrace.com.

Additional reporting and images: Pedro Martinez, Volvo Ocean Race

Dongfeng Win Spectacular Cape Town In-Port Race

Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Dongfeng Race Team traded blows throughout the first half of the Cape Town In-Port Race course on Friday afternoon, before the Chinese-French team grabbed the lead midway through the race and stretched away for their first win in the series.

The victory vaults skipper Charles Caudrelier’s team to second place on the leaderboard for the In-Port Race Series, just behind MAPFRE who retained the overall lead with a fightback second place finish on Friday.

“The team did a fantastic job, very nice boat handling and good speed, so well done to the full team,” Caudrelier said after the race. “Our start was not fantastic, but after that we made a good call to tack a bit earlier and put pressure on Vestas and then we found some good speed. That was a key factor.”

Conditions were spectacular on the waters off Cape Town, with wind near 20 knots, under bright, sunny skies. Boat handling was at a premium in the fresh conditions and on the first two laps of the course, there were several very close crosses as the boats approached the turning gates.

Near the end of the second run, Vestas 11th Hour Racing were sailing on an awkward wind angle to the mark and had difficulty furling their big A3 downwind sail in preparation for the rounding.

It didn’t hurt them immediately but when they next tried to deploy the sail at the final top mark, it wouldn’t fully unfurl, and the team was very slow for most of the final run.

“We started well,” said navigator Simon Fisher. “At the second top mark Dongfeng did a great job, pushing us to the less favoured side, which pushed us back into the fleet, which put pressure on the downwind drop, which meant we didn’t have a great furl, and that hurt us on the last run. It’s just a great example of how things can snowball.”

The mistake cost the team two places, as both MAPFRE and team AkzoNobel raced past on the run to the finish.

The second place finish represented a tremendous comeback for MAPFRE who were forced into a penalty turn just before the start, leaving them them the last to get across the line.

But the Spanish team kept pushing its way up the fleet, finally forcing team AkzoNobel away with an aggressive luff near the final top mark, setting the table for the pass of Vestas 11th Hour Racing on the final run.

Further back, Brunel and Scallywag engaged in a luffing match early on the first run. The Umpires penalised Scallywag for an infraction and following the penalty turn, David Witt’s team were trailing the fleet.

At the finish, a hard-charging Brunel nearly stole a place from Turn the Tide on Plastic. But Dee Caffari’s team, who had a very strong start to the race, held on for fifth place.

Cape Town In-Port Race Results
1. Dongfeng Race Team
2. MAPFRE
3. team AkzoNobel
4. Vestas 11th Hour Racing
5. Turn the Tide on Plastic
6. Team Brunel
7. Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag

Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Series Leaderboard
1. MAPFRE – 19 points
2. Dongfeng Race Team – 18 points
3. Team Brunel – 13 points
4. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 12 points
5. Team AkzoNobel – 11 points
6. Scallywag – 6 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 5 points

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Pedro Martinez, Ainhoa Sanchez

KCC Ladies Day

KCC’s first ever ‘Ladies Day’ will be held on Saturday 9th December during the Hancock Shield match when Kowloon Cricket Club play Hong Kong Cricket Club.

KCC Ladies Day
Date: 1pm, 9 December, 2017
Venue: Kowloon Cricket Club
Tickets: $200

Women’s Premiership Returns in New Format

Women’s rugby returns after a short break in what the HKRU describes as ‘innovative new format’ of a four-team Premiership and a four-team Premiership Development league.

Sticking four capable teams in a league labelled ‘development’ is insulting to the teams and players. Several members of those teams are HK internationals – hardly development players! Ignoring Valley and Gai Wu, there was little between the other 6 teams over the first part of the season – although the Sparkle did struggle to score.

Splitting the league into two parts likely will mean the gap between the ‘mini leagues’ will increase as playing against better players forces/encourages people to raise their game and improve their skill and game awareness. Players also learn from playing better teams, as the national team demonstrated against top quality opposition at the recent World Cup.

This weekend’s matches are a repeat Super Saturday Deux two weeks ago Valley against Gai Wu Falcons (16.30, KGV),  USRC Tigers take on HKFC Ice, (17:30, HKIED),  Tai Po Dragons verses City Sparkle (15.00, Tai Hang Tung) and CWB Phoenix face Kowloon (SKP, 18.00).

As ever, Valley coach Bella Milo sees room to strengthen her side’s performance in last game’s 32-5 win against Gai Wu.

“We were overcommitting at the breakdown, so we’ll keep more players on their feet and ready to execute. We didn’t finish as well as we should have – there were a couple of tries we left on the field in the second half. I want to see better line speed this week,’ she reels off.

But Milo has respect for the opposition.

“It’s never an easy game against Gai Wu. Last week was closer than the score suggests – for instance, if Greer had got her runaway [almost crossing after a dash from the centre], they could have picked up momentum and taken a hold on the game. So we aren’t taking anything for granted,” she said.

“I think it’s the first time Valley and Gai Wu play back-to-back games, and it’s going to be about the team that turns up, mentally and physically. The side that can back themselves mentally can take it.”

Milo is already responding to the demands of the new league arrangement and intends to bring on her bench earlier, to spread the load and build the depth of her squad. She also has to contend with the absence of Black Fern World Cup champion Aroha Savage and a bench start for core national player Amelie Seure, just back in town.

“We’ll bring the reserves on earlier, to give them more game time. With some players away and [second side] Valley Reds not playing, it’s a good opportunity for our depth to come on,” she said.

Gai Wu’s Lai Yiu Pang has also made adjustments, going into this second contest with Valley.

“My message to the girls is to attack more. We created opportunities, especially in the first 50 minutes, but weren’t smart enough to take them. Players weren’t spotting the attacking chances,” urges Lai.

“The whole team has to keep focus from 50 to 80 minutes, not play for half the game and then drop off.”

“Our scrum didn’t function as well as it should have. Improvement there will provide the foundation and encouragement for the team to play wider,” he observes.

Lai acknowledges the impact of Greer Muir – one of a string of Antipodean signings by Women’s Premiership clubs this season – but says the other 14 players have to share that workload.

“She has vision that we lack, and I want her to be more vocal and use her experience to help BB [Lee Tsz Ting ] organise the forwards, particularly,” he said.

Lai believes his team have the playing skills for this level, but have to build their game awareness.

“The team are doing their jobs, in general, but we need our decision makers to get the vision right, to recognise how to play opportunities more effectively. They have to read the game and take responsibility. They especially need to be aware faster of what’s coming next, getting the forwards in position, and everyone on the same page,” he said.

Lai will try some younger players at 9 and 10. Wong Suet Ying will start if she is fit, after taking a knock during a National Team Junior Development Programme session during the week.

Chow Mei Nan is unavailable for the rest of the season, with a pre-arranged commitment. Christy Cheng and Melody Li will only return from injury after New Year, and this week Lai is also missing another national team player, Lee Ka Shun. However, other injured players all return this week, giving him some options.

Two new trophies are being contested for the second time. In Round 7 of Women’s NL 1, the National League 1 Challenge Shield is on the line as holders USRC Tigers 2 meet Tai Po Dragons 2 (King’s Park, 19.30). In Women’s NL 2, it’s CWB Lammergeier defending the National League 2 Challenge Shield against HKFC Fire at So Kon Po at 16:30.

Additional reporting and images: hkru

ICC World T20 Asia Qualifier: Hong Kong Beat Malaysia by 35 Runs

Hong Kong batting first rallied strongly from 11/4 to score 77/7 in their 20 overs and bowled Malaysia out for 42 to win their opening ICC World T20 Asia Qualifier match by 35 runs.

Hong Kong, who won the the toss, chose to bat first on an overcast day at the Asiatic Institute of Technology in Bangkok. A delayed start did not dampen the occasion, as Keenu Gill and Yasmin Daswani took strike to start the tournament for the Red Dragons.

On what was a good wicket, it became evidently clear it would be a difficult game with the Malaysian attack bowling well from the outset. Winifred Duraisingam and Zayani Syamimi applied pressure to the Hong Kong top order up with some good stump to stump bowling making in the opening power play

The tough early batting conditions and a very slow outfield made scoring hard. In the 3rd over with Hong Kong on 7 for no loss, Zayani Syamimi had Gill given out LBW for 4. In came in-form captain Mariko Hill who departed for a golden duck on her birthday after a low full toss found the top edge whilst sweeping and was well caught by the keeper going backwards.

With Hong Kong seeking some stability at 7-2, Kary Chan came to the crease and looked busy while scoring a couple of singles, however, her demise came in the next over through a sharp catch at cover. Shanzeen Shahzad joined Daswani at the crease looking to create a lasting partnership but Syamimi once again firmly put Malaysia in the driving seat with another catch coming from a mishit to mid-off to leave Hong Kong in deep trouble at 10/4 after 5.3 overs.

Daswani and new batswoman Jenefer Davies started to rebuild Hong Kong’s innings finding gaps and running hard pushing the score to 24 before Dawwani was bowled by Jannadiah Halim, 24-5 after 9 overs.

Davies was joined by Natural Yip and both players combined well taking singles and putting pressure on the Malaysian bowlers. Both batters saw out the 2nd half of the innings punishing the bad ball and testing the arms of the Malaysian fielders. Yip was bowled for 18 by Syamimi in the 19th over -71-6.

The return of Duraisingam saw Davies well caught by Syamimi for a game changing 29 from 36 balls. Marina Lamplough saw off the final two balls to see Hong Kong finish on 77-7 off 20 overs.

Betty Chan (4-1-9-1) and Mariko Hill (2-0-6-1) opened the bowling against the Malaysians who had a tough time against the combination of pace and spin resulting in an early wicket for Hill with her 2nd ball of the game with Davies, who was in the process of putting together a player of the match performance, taking the catch behind the stumps.

Tight bowling and sharp fielding continued to restrict the Malaysian batswomen who played high risk shots resulting in key dismissals to leave the innings stuttering at 14-3 after 6 overs. With pressure mounting, Hong Kong took control of the game with dot ball pressure creating a number of run outs.

Annie Ho (3-0-5-0) and Keenu Gill (2-0-4-1) stifled the Malaysian reply with a clinical partnership in the middle of the innings. Marina Lamplough and Chan Sa Ha combined to finish off the Malaysian tail. Both created havoc with yet another seam/spin combination which finished off the Malaysian innings inside 17 overs.

Hong Kong (77/7) beat Malaysia (42 all out) by 35 runs.

Player of the Match: Jenefer Davies

Hong Kong coach Richard Waite said “Delighted with the character shown by the team after a tough start at the beginning of the Hong Kong innings. The skill and game awareness of Jenefer Davies was crucial to Hong Kong edging up towards a score of 75/80 which ultimately proved to be 35 too many in tricky conditions”

Additional reporting and images: HKcricket