RLIR 2025 Title Race Wide Open Due To Absence Of Defending Champion

LANGKAWI, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- The 21st edition of the Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR 2025) will kick off tomorrow with the participation of 35 yachts, vying for honours in the various racing classes contested over five days.

Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) executive director Azlan Abdullah said the five-day race, which starts tomorrow, will also involve 270 participants from 16 countries.

"Among the countries that are also competing in this edition are Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, China and South Korea. All of these teams will compete in six racing classes, namely Racing, IRC 1, PSC-IRC 2, Sport Boat, Multihull and Club.

"The focus will be on the premier racing class since defending champion, Witchcraft from Hong Kong, will not be competing this year. This will certainly open up space and opportunities for the Malaysian team to win the championship," he said at a press conference here today.

He said all teams had also started their training session today and the wind and weather conditions on the resort island is expected to be in good condition throughout the tournament to enable the race to be finished smoothly.

Meanwhile, Azlan said the objective of the RLIR was to place Malaysia's name among the top cruise destinations while promoting Langkawi as a sports tourism hub in the region.

"Actually, Langkawi is lucky to have a sailing school here, so we can produce many sailors as young as nine and 10 years old. Here we can attract more people to participate in this sailing sport," he said.

-- BERNAMA