Sailing duo inches towards medal
By Viva Sarah Press
(September 26) - Israel enjoyed its greatest success of the Sydney Olympics yesterday, with sailors Shani Kedmi and Anat Fabrikant inching closer to the podium in the women's 470 class event. The duo are within one point of a silver medal.
After yesterday's ninth and 10th races in the double-handed dinghy, five teams - Australia, USA, Israel, Germany and Ukraine - came out as medal contenders. Tomorrow is the competition's last race.
Australians Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell lead the fleet with 32 points. They have not yet clinched the gold medal, but are guaranteed at least a bronze.
Second in the fleet overall are Germans Nicola Birkner and Wibke Buelle with 41 points. Their win in race nine yesterday means they can still deprive Australia of the gold medal, but to do so they have to win race 11, with Australia in eighth place or worse.
The USA crew of JJ Isler and Pease Glaser, third in the fleet overall with 41 points, are also in striking distance of gold if they win race 11 and Australia finishes ninth or worse. They are in third because their score, including their two worst scores (which each team is allowed to drop), is higher than that of the Germans.
Fabrikant and Kedmi cannot win gold, but with a top finish in race No. 11, they could capture silver or bronze. The duo has 42 points after finishing second in race No. 10 yesterday.
Ukrainians Olena Pakholchyk and Ruslana Taran are right behind Kedmi and Fabrikant with 45 points. The medals in the women's 470 class will be decided tomorrow in the final race of the regatta. Today is an off-day for the sailors.
Wrestlers Yuri Yevseichik and Gotche Tsitsiashvili also had a good day yesterday in their respective Greco-Roman events.
Yevseichik won both of his matches in the 130kg. division elimination pool, guaranteeing him a place in the semifinals. He still has today's preliminary match against Poland's Marek Sitnik - but the result doesn't matter.
Yevseichik beat Fatih Bakir of Turkey 3-0 in a very one-sided match. He was even more ferocious when he took on David Vala of the Czech Republic, beating him by a score of 5-1.
Yevseichik, who came in fourth at the European Championships in Moscow this year, has a promising chance of winning a medal.
Tsitsiashvili, meanwhile, re cord ed a win and a loss in yester day's 85kg. elimination round. Tsitsiashvili needs to beat Tuni sian Amor Bach Hanba today in order to advance to the semifinals. He lost his first match yesterday to Norway's Fritz Aanes, but came back with a win against Uzbekistan's Yuriy Vitt 3-0.
Sailors Eli Zukerman and Elad Ronen suffered another setback yesterday in their men's 470 event. They slotted 23rd place in the ninth race, thus making it impossible to win a medal. In the 10th race they came in seventh, and now stand 13th out of 29 overall. The duo has 90 points, compared to Australians Tom King and Mark Turnball, who are leading the fleet, with 36 points. There is one race to go.
Zukerman and Ronen finished ninth in the 1999 world championships.
Kayakers Michael Kalganov, Ro'i Yelin and Rami Zur join Yevseichik and Tsitsiashvili in representing Israel at today's Games.
Kalganov, 25, is touted as Israel's best hope for gold. He has twice won the gold medal in the 200m. single kayak race at the World Championships in 1998 and '99. At the European Champion ships in Poland in July, he won a gold medal in the K1 1000m. and a silver medal in the K1 500m. races. He is competing in the K1 1000m. event today.
Yelin, 18, finished sixth in the 200m. and 500m. races in last year's world championships. He also finished fifth last year in the 1,000m. race at the world youth championships.
Zur, 23, finished 13th in the 500m. K2 competition in the 1999 world championships.
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