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Sailors ready to face typhoon

Typhoon Nepartak is expected to hit South Tokyo during the Olympics.

However, the national sailing team are ready to face anything, even a typhoon, at the Enoshima Yacht Harbour. The sailors will start their campaign today.

Although the four sailors are not expected to earn medals, they hope to do their best in the Games.

However, national coach Afendy Abdullah said the typhoon, which is heading towards Tokyo Bay, is not expected to hit the harbour, located in Sagami Bay.

"My charges are eager to test themselves against the world's best sailors from tomorrow," said Afendy yesterday.

"They have acclimatised with the conditions at the harbour. They will sail against unpredictable wind conditions. It is expected to hit between 18 and 20 knots during the events.

"The sailors will be wearing cooling jackets to remain hydrated in the humid weather. Temperatures could reach between 27 and 29 degrees Celsius. However, I believe our sailors will be able to handle the weather."

Khairulnizam Afendy and Nur Shazrin Latif will compete in the men and women's laser radial, respectively, today.

Nuraisyah Jamil and Juni Karimah Noor Jamali will start their campaign in the women's International 470 on July 28.

Although a medal is almost out of the question for Khairulnizam, he hopes to do better than South Korea's Ha Jae Min, who beat the Malaysian to the gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.

Other prominent Asian sailors in his event are Singapore's two-time Sea Games champion Ryan Lo and India's Vishnu Saravanan.

Nur Shazrin, ranked 64th in the world, meanwhile, will be out to upstage Japan's Manami Doi (36th) and India's Nethra Kumanan (54th).

Afendy hopes to see his sailors do better than their Asian rivals in the Games.

"We know it is tough to win an Olympic medal. However, I hope my sailors can beat their Asian rivals and become the top team in the continent.

"It would give them the confidence for next year's Hangzhou Asian Games," he added.

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