A five-member team from the Star Sailors League (SSL) recently visited Bahrain as preparations for the upcoming final series of the SSL Gold Cup 2022 – a blockbuster global sailing event – continue to pick up pace.
The SSL Gold Cup final series is scheduled to be held in the kingdom for the first time, from October 28 to November 20.
Forty nations, including hosts Bahrain, will be represented by their sailing teams with the event slated to be one of the biggest tournaments on the global sporting calendar.
“Two days ago, an SSL team – comprising media, logistics and technical staff – was in town to see how our preparations are progressing,” Bahrain Maritime Sports Association (BMSA) technical director Kacem Ben Jemia, who is also the technical adviser to the SSL for the Gold Cup, told the GDN.
“They visited the venue, Water Garden City, to see what has been done so far, held meetings with officials from all the concerned ministries, municipalities and companies that will be involved in the staging of the event,” Jemia, a former Tunisian national sailing team coach who was recruited by BMSA president Shaikh Khalifa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa in 2001, added.
The 40 participating teams consist of the top-ranked 23 nations in sailing, 16 teams that come through the qualifiers and Bahrain, who, as hosts, automatically get a slot.
Since the SSL, which was formed in 2012 by Olympic athletes, mandates a level playing field, all 40 teams race on the SSL47, a 14-metre racing boat which has the same specifications for each team.
“The SSL Gold Cup final series will be a huge event,” Jemia continued. “It’s going to have a big impact on tourism in Bahrain. We’re expecting more than 6,000 visitors from many other countries too, not just the ones that have teams participating, for the duration of the event.”
On Monday, the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority (BTEA) announced that it would be supporting the tournament with BTEA chief executive Dr Nasser Qaedi saying that the authority’s backing of the significant sporting event was a chance to support sports tourism in the kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Bahrain team – nicknamed the ‘Bahrain Sharks’ – will be led by Abdulla Janahi, an experienced sailor, who spent the early part of
this summer training in Spain’s Grand Canary Island for the Asian Games and the 2024 Olympics.
In mid-July, the entire 16-member Bahraini squad was sent by the BMSA to Switzerland where they spent a week training on two SSL47 boats with picturesque Lake Neuchatel as a substitute for the open sea.
“We did that because we were among the last few teams who hadn’t had any actual training on the designated boat,” Jemia explained. “The Poland team also joined us, so we were able to simulate competitive conditions on the lake.”
The experience had proved invaluable for the Bahrain team, he added.
“Now, we’re all looking forward to the tournament,” Jemia said. “It’s going to be fantastic for the Bahraini public to see some of the world’s best sailors display their skills in such a spectacular competition which is being hosted by the kingdom.”