Cypriot sailing star Pavlos Kontides will be looking to strike gold in Miami next week when he gets his 2014 season underway in the ISAF Sailing World Cup.
Kontides, who made history by winning a first ever medal at the Olympic Games for Cyprus in 2012 when he finished second, will be aiming to win his first ever major gold medal after finishing second and with the silver in his last three major events.
“This is my first competition of 2014 and one of the most important”, the 23-year-old Southampton University shipping student told reporters from Miami where he arrived last week.
“My goal is to win the gold medal here. It won’t be easy though because there are some of the best players involved in this competition. I will need to stay focused throughout the competition.
“I have been training hard for Miami for quite some time now and I want to deliver.”
The Miami World Cup gets underway on Monday and finishes on February 1.
Two months ago, Kontides took the silver medal at the Laser Standard Men’s World Championship 2013 in Oman behind Brazilian winner Robert Scheidt.
Around a month earlier, Kontides took the silver medal at the Sailing World Cup in the Chinese coastal town of Qingdao to cement his name amongst the world’s elite sailors.
Meanwhile, Kontides will have compatriot and RSX sailor Andreas Cariolou with him for the games. Cariolou, 31, had finished 13th at the Olympic Games of both 2004 and 2008 before dropping down to 17th at London 2012.
Sailing is quickly developing into a popular sport in Cyprus much like with tennis where there has been some impressive progress at youth level since the remarkable exploits of Marcos Baghdatis back in 2006.
In June last year, Limassol made history after hosting the 2013 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship for their first time.
Cyprus Weekly