KUALA LUMPUR: Sailor Nur Shazrin Latif, who clinched a gold medal at the recent Hangzhou Asian Games, has joined the national sailing team, known as the Monsoon, for the Star Sailors League (SSL) Gold Cup final, which starts on Nov 10.
The event, which was postponed for a year due to unforeseen circumstances, will be staged at Gran Canaria in Spain.
Malaysia reached the final after successfully navigated the qualifying rounds at Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland last year.
Led by three-time Olympian Khairulnizam Affendy, the squad aim to make an impact in the SSL Gold Cup, often referred to as the World Cup of sailing.
Captained by Megat Danial Megat Najmuddin, the team departed for a week-long training in Split, Croatia last Friday, but Khairulnizam and Nur Shazrin will only join them tomorrow.
The draw will take place on Nov 8, with the race commencing two days later.
"We are honoured to represent Malaysia in what is widely regarded as the ultimate competition for national sailing teams," said Megat.
"Each nation's top sailing athletes are turned into a single crew and take on other nations on board the high-performance 47-foot long one-design monohulls."
The remaining crew members include regatta veteran Faizul Aswad Mohamed, Ahmad Hakhimi Ahmad Shukri, Syukri Abdul Aziz, Azhar Sadon Zubir, Uzair Amin Yusof, Akiyuddin Mat Zaki, Asri Azman, Amsyar Syahmi Ajwi, and Khairulhafiz Khmbali.
Although each team must register 11 names, only nine sailors will compete at any given time.
The competition will feature 40 teams, including the world's top 24 sailing nations in the SSL rankings, along with 16 teams that qualified through the series held from May to July 2022.
As of September, Malaysia is ranked 51st in the SSL rankings.
