BREAKING NEWS

Israeli sailors punch Olympic ticket

Israel’s delegation to next summer’s Rio Olympics grew by two more athletes on Friday when Eyal Levin and Dan Froyliche secured a berth for the blue-and-white in the 470 Class sailing competition in Brazil.
Levin and Froyliche could only manage a 24th-place finish at the world championships in Haifa, but that was good enough to claim the sixth and final Olympic berth handed out at the event.
The identity of Israel’s duo at the competition in Rio will only be decided next April when the local race for the single ticket comes to an end at the European Championships in Spain.
Levin and Froyliche currently lead the race, with their main rivals being Gal Cohen and Ayal Hamburger, who ended the world championships in 37th position.
“We achieved our goal, even though we didn’t have a very good week,” said Levin.
Australians Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan won the gold medal in Haifa.
Tsuf Zamet and Stav Brokman were Israel’s top performers in the women’s event in Haifa, ending the competition in 18th place. However, they came up short in their attempt to book a berth in the women’s 470 Class competition in Rio. Noya Bar-Am and Rimon Shoshan ended the world championships in 22nd, while Gil Cohen and Danielle Maman were 31st. Israel’s female sailors will have one final chance to qualify for Rio at the European Championships.
Austrians Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar took the gold medal in Haifa.