TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA WORLD 21st-ranked Andrew Arbuzov has virtually put his one foot into the final, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the best of five semi-finals at the Qatar Match Racing Cup 2012 (Grade 3) at Doha Bay.

Under mostly overcast and dusty conditions, the action began at the Doha Bay on Thursday with strong gusts baulking sailors from showing their best. But the day improved into an excellent one later as the wind calmed down.

Runner-up last year, Arbuzov and his crew Yury Antipov, Vyacheslav Kaptyukhin and Alexey Borovyak defeated Switzerland’s Lorenz Mueller in both the matches in the semi-finals after the secondround robin.

But Arbuzov’s compatriot Sergey Musikhin, the world No 37, and Estonian’s world No 46 Mati Sepp were deadlocked in the other semi-final, sharing the opening two matches before the day came to an end.

Three more races in the last four stage will be held on Friday if the winners are not decided early in the session.

Local sailor Waleed al Sharshani and team of Hussain al Sharshani, Omar Abbas, Jassim al Sulaiti and Faris al Bakri were beaten by Ebrahim Abdulla in the place-off match. Seventh in the 2011 edition, the Bahraini skipper and his crew of Ahmed Abdulla, Dawood Abdulla, Ahmed al Naar and Ebrahim al Doseri defeated the rivals by 2-0 to take the fifth place.

Earlier, the second roundrobin was decided and Arbuzov, as expected, finished in the top place with nine points despite his loss to Musikhin.

Musikhin and threemember crew of Kiril Luzin, Yury Popov and Pavel Trofimchuk might have finished the round-robin with full points. But a penalty of half a point blotted his group performance record before they took an overall second spot.

In the third spot was Sepp, whose crew lost to both the Russian stars and had to be satisfied with a 3-2 record.

Mueller picked the fourth place and secured the last spot in the semi-finals with 2- 3 win-loss record.

RESULTS SSeemmi--fifinals ((beest of fifivvee)) Andrew Arbuzov (Russia) leads Lorenz Mueller (Switzerland) 2-0 Sergey Musikhin (Russia) tied with Mati Sepp (Estonia) 1-1 Fifthh pplacee pplayy--off Ebrahim Abdulla (Bahrain) beat Waleed al Sharshani 2-0 Ovveerrall pplacing afteerr seecond rround-- rrobin 1.Andrew Arbuzov (Russia) 9 points 2. Sergey Musikhin (Russia) 7.5 points 3.Mati Sepp (Estonia) 7 points 4.Lorenz Mueller (Switzerland) 4 points 5.Ebrahim Abdulla (Bahrain) 2 points 6.Waleed al Sharshani (Qatar) 0 points SSeecond rround--rrobin 1.Sergey Musikhin (Russia) 4.5-0.5 2.Andrew Arbuzov (Russia) 4-1 3.Mati Sepp (Estonia) 3-2 4.Lorenz Mueller (Switzerland) 2-3 5.Ebrahim Abdulla (Bahrain) 1-4 6.Waleed al Sharshani (Qatar) 0-5 Firrst rround--rrobin 1.Andrew Arbuzov (Russia) 5-0 2.Mati Sepp (Estonia) 4-1 3.Sergey Musikhin (Russia) 3-2 4.Lorenz Mueller (Switzerland) 2-3 5.Ebrahim Abdulla Sadeq (Bahrain) 1-4 6.Waleed al Sharshani (Qatar) 0-5