Yachting: NZ sailors set to qualify for Olympics

Simon Cooke and Peter Nicholas will be the first New Zealand sailors to qualify for the Athens 2004 Olympics.

With one race remaining, the pair are third at the 470 world championships in Sardinia with 56 points, three behind Spaniards Gustavo Martinez and Tunte Cantero, with Greeks Andreas Kosmatopoulos and Konstantinos Trigonis second on 55 points.

The top 10 countries in the men's fleet and top six in the women's secure a place at Athens. The other two New Zealand crews, Andre Brown and Jamie Hunt and Stephen and Philip Keen, are 24th and 35th respectively. In the women's fleet, Shelley Hessan and Linda Dickson are 20th.