Jiahui Wui makes perfect start to ISAF World Cup in Qingdao

The five-day event is taking place in the Chinese port city of Qingdao ©ISAF

China’s Jiahui Wui made the most of home waters as she claimed three wins on the opening day of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) World Cup to set the early pace in the women’s RS:X class in Qingdao.

Sailors were forced to cope with a strong tide at Qingdao, the location for sailing competition at Beijing 2008, and Wui proved able to cope with conditions better as she finished comfortably clear of her rivals to top the early standings.

Her compatriots Peina Chen and Manjia Zheng will hope to close in on her in the remaining four days of competition as they currently occupy second and third in the standings respectively, with Chen having finished second in two races and third in the other on day one.

Perfect starts were in short supply due to the high level of competition, with Asian Olympic qualification spots up for grabs, but Singaporean duo Justin Liu and Denise Lim were able to join Wui in recording a 100 per cent winning start.

The duo, knowing their class is a qualifier for Rio 2016, fought hard in their three races to try to give themselves a platform for the remainder of the week and they were rewarded by coming from behind in each race to secure victories.

"It was only at the end of the day where we thought it had gone well,” said Liu afterwards.

“Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and China are all really strong and it was neck and neck at times in all three races.

“We're just very happy to be at the front.”

Nine different classes are being contested at the World Cup ©ISAF

The men’s 470 class is topped by a European pairing as Onan Barrerios and Juan Curbelo Cabrera recorded a win in the opening race, with the Spaniards then securing a fourth place finish in the second.

It gives the duo a four point advantage over Xiujian Huang and Yang Wang heading into the second day, but the Chinese pair will be thrilled to be leading the battle for the sole Asian Olympic qualifying spot available at the event.

However, in the women’s class the home favourites Shasha Chen and Haiyan Gao will need to make up points as a victory and a sixth place finish sees them lie behind Japan’s Ai Kondo Yoshida and Miho Yoshioka who achieved second and third places.

No sailor proved to be dominant in the men’s RS:X class with China’s Chunzhaung Lin holding the lead after first and third place finishes, although a discarded 16th place could come back to haunt him, as it leaves him with little room for mistakes.

Similarly Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic will be hoping to avoid another high score in the men’s laser event as a 27th place finish in the second race of the day sees him currently well down on the leader Cy Thompson from the US Virgin Islands, despite winning the race opener.

The women’s laser radial event sees Japan’s Manami Doi and China’s Dongshaung Zhang tied in first place on eight points, while the men’s Finn class sees China’s Lei Gong lead the standings after recording first and second place finishes.

In the men’s 49er class South Korea’s Bongjin Chae and Dongwook Kim earned two wins from three races to lead from their compatriots Sungwok Kim and Hoyeob Yang.