Boardsailing: Kendall hangs tough for second at worlds

New Zealand boardsailor Barbara Kendall turned in a typically gutsy performance to win the silver medal at the Mistral world championships in Turkey.

No racing was possible yesterday because of poor winds, so the results stood after the seventh day of competition on Friday at Cesme, a coastal town near the Aegean port city of Izmir.

Italian Alessandra Sensini won the women's title with two races to spare from Kendall and Faustine Merret of France.

After spending four weeks training and preparing equipment at the venue, a measurement decision the day before the regatta started forced her to change boards and borrow a new board.

She was also troubled by a nagging forearm injury that was not made any easier to nurse by the extreme weather conditions at the championship.

"Anyone would have wilted faced with all these difficulties but Barbara showed how tough she can be," one of New Zealand's coaches, Paul Page, said.

This is the third consecutive time Kendall has been on the podium at the world championships, winning gold in 2002 and silvers in 2003 and this year.

Kendall also won three consecutive Olympics medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000, making her one of New Zealand's most successful sports persons of the last decade.

In the men's Mistral championship, Jon Paul Tobin and Tom Ashley finish in the top 10.

Tobin, who was ranked number one in the world, finished 6th and Ashley, who is the reigning Mistral youth world champion and New Zealand's Olympic representative, finished 7th, with one point separating them.

Julien Bontemps from France won gold, Przemek Miaczski from Poland the silver and Nicolas Huguet from France finished third.

Overall women's results

Alessandra Sensini (Italy) 1, Barbara Kendall (NZ) 2, Faustine Merret (France) 3.

- NZPA