Shanghai: Team UAE’s Rashid Al Qamzi beat Australia’s Brock Cohen in the Match Race final of the UIM H20 Nations Cup in Shanghai on Wednesday.
The UAE are now top of the overall standings for the two-day eight nation event and are on course to claim a record fourth Nations Cup.
Al Qamzi had earlier beaten his UAE teammate Rashid Al Tayer in the quarter-final. Russia are just one point behind the UAE after both their drivers Andrey Panyushkin and Roman Vandyshev reached the semi-finals.
“This was a superb start to the UIM H2O Nations Cup by Team UAE and perfect foundations to build on for the two races on Thursday,” said Salem Al Romaithi, assistant general manager of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC). “It was a pity that both our drivers lined up together and that prevented both of them having the opportunity to reach the Match Race final.”
Al Tayer and Al Qamzi posted respective times of 44.65 seconds and 45.47 seconds to qualify in seventh and 10th position. The duo also posted the second and fourth quickest times in practice behind Russia’s Vandyshev.
There will now be two races on Thursday to determine the overall winner of the Nations Cup. Race one gets underway at 9.30am (UAE time) while the second race will take place at 11.30am (UAE time).
UIM H2O Nations Cup – Match Race result
1. Rashed Al Qamzi (UAE) 25 pts
2. Brock Cohen (Australia) 22 pts
3. Andrei Panyushkin (Russia) 20 pts
4. Roman Vandyshev (Russia) 18 pts
5. Dieter Kaiser (Germany) ` 16 pts
7. Rashid Al Tayer (UAE) 14 pts
UIM H2O Nations Cup – overall teams positions
1. UAE 39 pts
2. Russia 38 pts
3. Australia 33 pts
4. USA 27 pts
5. Germany 25 pts
6. China 18 pts
7. Malaysia 14 pts
8. Italy 7 pts
