Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1065920
29 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 DECEMBER 2018 SPORTS SAILING AS the Mapfre Middlesea Euromed In- ternational Championship came to a end yesterday, it was Richard Schultheis, representing Malta and Malta Young Sailor's Club, who won the Mapfre Mid- dlesea Euromed International Champi- onship crown and registering a com- fortable win in the Optimist Gold Fleet Class. Schultheis had an inauspicious start on the first day of racing, however he sailed through to victory in the following days, beating competition from Swiss Jeanlou Lauber who climbed through the ranks slowly to rise up to second place. Soma Kis-Szölgyémi who had been fighting for a higher place had to settle for third place. This is the second consecutive win for Schultheis in this competition. In the Optimist Silver Fleet, the top billing went to Russian Daniil Perchik, Liechtenstein's Pablo Haemmerle and representing USA Annie Samis. Alana Twomey who was leading the fleet until yesterday, had to settle for fourth place. In the Optimist Novice fleet Croatians Vito Božovic and Oliver Bilic retained their positions to finish first and second respectively, whislt Vanja Ramm Erics- son, representing the Royal Malta Yacht Club, completed the podium. In the three Laser fleet classes (4.7, Standard and Radial), other Mal- tese sailors managed to obtain good results. In the 4.7 Class, Saul Vas- sallo (Malta Young Sailors Club) per- formed well enough to climb back to second place, having lost this place temporarily in the third day of racing. First place went to Andrey Verdysh (Ukraine) whilst third place went to Alana Coakley (Ireland). In the Standard Class, Malta's Karl Miggiani (Malta Young Sailors Club) also managed to secure a second plac- ing behind India's Upamanyu Dutta. In third place was Swede Jacob Kjellsson. The Radial Class was won by Royal Malta Yacht Club's Nethra Kumanan, who kept top billing for most of the competition, second place was Ahmed Alhamdi (UAE), whilst third place was taken up by Maltese Zachary Zammit (Malta Young Sailors). "We are very satisfied with the over- all outcome of the Mapfre Middlesea Euromed International Championship. This was the result of months of hard work to bring these sailors to race in Malta. This event not only puts Maltese sailing on the international map but also give local sailors a great opportu- nity to race in local waters against an international fleet" explained Chris Ba- jada, Commodore, Malta Young Sailors' Club. The nineteenth edition of the Map- fre Middlesea Euromed International Championship was organised by the Malta Young Sailors Club under the auspices of the Malta Sailing Federa- tion. The Championship was sponsored by Mapfre Middlesea and supported by Yachting Malta. Results of the 2018 Mapfre Middlesea Euromed International Championship can be viewed on http://euromed.mal- tayoungsailors.com/results/ Richard Schultheis retains crown Mapfre Middlesea Euromed International Championship Richard Schultheis PHOTOGRAPHY BY RODRIGO MOREIRA RATO / LX SAILING