KUALA LUMPUR: Team Malaysia, nicknamed The Monsoon, stormed into the quarter-finals of the Star Sailors League (SSL) Gold Cup in Gran Canaria, Spain, after topping Fleet 1 in the fourth elimination round.
In near-perfect conditions, with the 10-knot breeze, combined with the rolling Atlantic swell, the national keelboat team topped Fleet 1, causing a major upset over higher-ranked nations, world No. 4 United States and Argentina (No 20) in the top-eight elimination round.
In the quarter-finals tomorrow, Malaysia, ranked No. 58 in the world, will take on world No. 2 Britain, France (No. 6) and Denmark (No. 7) in Fleet 1.
Fleet 2 consist of Germany, Netherlands, Chile and Hungary while Brazil, Portugal, New Zealand and Australia form Fleet 3.
Fleet 4 comprises Switzerland, Lithuania, Italy and Spain.
The top two teams from each Fleet will go through to the semi-finals, which will consist of eight teams divided into two groups.
The final will be contested by the best four teams in one fleet.
"Advancing to the quarter-finals was beyond our dreams," said captain Megat Danial Megat Najmuddin.
"We have achieved our target of a top-20 finish, upsetting higher-ranked nations en route to the quarter-finals.
"We hope Malaysians will rally behind us as a gigantic task awaits us in the quarter-finals."
Malaysia earlier made the cut to the second round after finishing top of Group 3 comprising Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda and Ukraine in the top-32 elimination round.
This was followed by a second-place finish behind Chile in the top-16 elimination round. In the top-eight elimination round, the Monsoon topped the group with eight points, followed by Hungary.
The US and Argentina were eliminated after finishing third and fourth, respectively.
In the latest race, The Monsoon lined up Khairulnizam Affendy as the helmsman, aided by tactician Nur Shazrin Latif, Ahmad Faizul Aswad Mohamed (grinder), Ahmad Hakhimi Ahmad Shukri (trimmer), Ahmad Khairulhafiz Khmbali, (offside trimmer), Azhar Sadon Zubir (pitman), Uzair Amin Yusof (mainsail trimmer), Akiyuddin Mat Zaki (floater), Saifullah Esa (bowman).
The two reserves are Amsyar Syahmi Mohd Ajwi (spare trimmer) and Rizal Mahadi Sazili (spare floater).