Heritage Bay Cup

Terengganu are only a couple of years away from winning the Monsoon Cup.


A little too ambitious perhaps but not according to Duyong Heritage Sailing Team skipper Mohd Rais Hashim.


And he may just know something that many others don't as he is now the current holder of the Heritage Bay Cup match racing competition.



Six other sailing teams took part in the match racing competition at Ri-Yaz Heritage Resort and Spa in Pulau Duyong on Saturday, and Mohd Rais and his crew proved they were the sailors of the day.

Coached by Malaysian match racing champion Nurul Ain Md Isa, Duyong Heritage Sailing Team led from start to finish, leaving Team Ri-Yaz Heritage and Spa in second place and former cup holders Team Terengganu in distant third.

Ri-Yaz skipper Wan Nordin Wan Abdulah said his mostly rookie crew members had done their best although it was clearly, not good enough.


"It was a case of so close and yet so far," said mainsail trimmer Malizan Zakaria who was match racing for the first time.

He was not the only novice sailor out on a sailboat for the first time in the second edition of the competition as Team Terengganu Tourism Action Council skipper Tun Baharom Tun Abdul Razak said also made his debut.



Tun Baharom's team crashed out early in the competition but trimmer Ahmad Fathil Abdul Ghani said," we couldn't do much better as we had to take on the eventual champions in the early round."



The other competing teams were Team Inai Kiara, Terengganu Economic Development Corporation and Terengganu Treasury.

It's Not The Stadium

And it's not the coach either.

The Turtles could have lost, probably with similar two-goal margin, to KL Plus FC even if the match was played at Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin or with former head coach Mohd Nik shouting commands from the touch line.

It made no difference whatsoever when the game was moved to Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium in town on Tuesday night due the closure of the new stadium in Gong Badak after its roof collapsed earlier this month.

Coach Ken Worden could only watch the blunder made by Sharbinee Allawee in the 4th minute which resulted in Rusydee Samsudin scoring the first goal for the visiting team.

The ball had rebounded off the chest of the first choice goalkeeper and fell right at the feet of KL Plus striker who only needed a simple touch to steer his shot into the back of the net.

To be fair to Terengganu, they did try to search for an equaliser and midfielder Zairo Anuar Zailani came close to scoring in the 12th minute through his trademark freekick which was off target by only a couple of inches.

The black-and-white team came out with their guns blazing after the break but ran out of ammunitions halfway through the second half as KL Plus defensive line led by captain Norhafiz Zamani stood strong.

Striker Irwan Fadzli Idrus slotted in the second goal for KL Plus after running past two defenders before unleashing an unstoppable shot to put the game to bed in the 69th minute.

The final whistle could not have come any sooner for the home team supporters who had to endure yet another mediocre performance from the Turtles.

At least KL Plus coach Mat Zan Mat Aris was kind enough to suggest that his team were a little fortuitous to win the evenly balanced match.

But most of spectators knew that it was a better organised team who won.

They also knew, the Turtles could not do any worse with a local coach.