Yachting: Olympic berths remain up in the air

1.30pm

The nominations for three yachting berths at the Athens Olympics remained up in the air today after the Sports Disputes Tribunal delivered its decisions on three appeals.

The tribunal, chaired by former Court of Appeal judge Ted Thomas, declined the appeal of women's 470 crew Melinda Henshaw and Jan Shearer.

The pair will now have to sail in the world championships in Croatia in May to satisfy Yachting New Zealand criteria that they would place in the top 10 at Athens.

The tribunal also annulled the nominations of Laser sailor Hamish Pepper and men's 470 pair Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt.

It said there was not enough evidence available at the moment for the YNZ nomination panel to conclude that either crew would gain a top 10 place in Athens.

Pepper will have to sail in the world championships against the other top-three place-getters from the national trials in January -- appellant Andrew Murdoch and Nic Burfoot. After that YNZ's nomination panels will reconsider the Laser nomination.

The tribunal allowed the appeal of Simon Cooke and Alastair Gair and decided that the panel should reassess the men's 470 nomination.

- NZPA