Israelis Gal and Kliger win bronze at World Championships

By ALLON SINAI
Udi Gal and Gidi Kliger won the bronze medal at the 470 Class World Championships for a second straight year on Friday, finishing the medal race in fifth position and leapfrogging the Portuguese duo of Alvaro Marinho and Miguel Nunes. "It was a very difficult day. We started the race poorly, but we rebounded brilliantly," Kliger said after completing the competition in Cascais , Portugal. "We feel great, especially after completing such an unlikely comeback." Gal and Kliger were, at one point, positioned as low as 46th place, but an excellent finish to the competition catapulted the duo into a medal winning position. Eyal Levin and Amir Yam ended the event in a respectable 19 th place. In the women's 470 competition, Nika Kornecki and Vered Buskila finished in eighth position and despite not winning a medal, will join Gal and Kliger at next years Beijing Olympics. Noa Botzer and Laja Trajtenberg ended the championships in 32 nd place. Shahar Tzuberi finished the Neil Pryde competition in eighth position and will almost definitely represent Israel in China. Tzuberi's success means that Olympic champion Gal Fridman will likely not have the chance to repeat on his gold medal triumph from 2004. Fridman finished the event in a disappointing 34th position and even Israel's third representative Nimrod Mashiah ended the championships 18 places ahead of him. In the women's Neil Pryde competition, Ma'ayan Davidovitch was the best placed Israeli (33rd), with 2003 world champion Lee Korzits finishing in 49th position.