Cohen-Buskila pair closes in on medal; Mashiah fading

Israelis loog good to take a medal at the World Championships women’s 470 Class sailing competition in Perth, Australia.

By ALLON SINAI
World Championships women’s 470 Class sailing 311 (photo credit: Paul Fremantle/Perth 2011))
World Championships women’s 470 Class sailing 311
(photo credit: Paul Fremantle/Perth 2011))
Gil Cohen and Vered Buskila continued their climb up the 470 Class sailing competition rankings at the World Championships on Saturday, moving into second place overall in Perth, Australia.
Cohen and Buskila ended Saturday’s races in ninth and fourth positions, respectively, and are still in with a chance of overtaking leaders Spain’s Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos.
However, with only 10 points separating the Israelis in second place and an Italian pair in sixth, competition for spots on the podium will be high in Sunday’s final medal race and Cohen and Buskila have still got plenty to do to secure a medal of any color.
Meanwhile, Nimrod Mashiah dropped out of the top three in the windsurfing competition in Perth for the first time since it began on Saturday, falling to fourth overall after ending the day’s races in eighth and ninth.
Nevertheless, a third consecutive medal at the worlds is still well within Mashiah’s grasp, with the Israeli trailing Poland’s Przemyslaw Miarczynski, who is in third place, by just two points.
Even should he fail to scale the podium after Sunday’s medal race, Mashiah should move ahead of Shahar Zubari in the battle to represent Israel at the London Olympics after the latter ended a disappointing competition in 17th place overall on Saturday.
Zubari ended the day’s races in 11th and 13th, finishing well behind Mashiah and well outside the top-10, meaning he won’t even take part in the medal race and is set fall behind his rival after the second of the four events which will determine who will take part in next summer’s Olympics