Israeli Sonar Team qualifies for Rio 2016
The Israeli Parasailing Sonar team has won the chance to compete in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Coach Israel Altman, ZDVO Melbourne’s Jeff Lipshatz, Ilana Sher, Dror, Arnon, Shimon, Atida Lipshatz and team manager Doron Levit celebrate after qualifying
After five days of racing off Melbourne in the Criteria Regatta, the three-person crew sailed a total of 11 races.
The team got off to a bad start in the first half of the Regatta with coach Israel Altman Israel telling J-Wire: “The team had not had much practice before arriving in Melbourne and that reflected in their early results finding themselves lagging behind the field.
Altman Israel, Dror Cohen, Simon ben Yakov
Arnon Efrati, Doron Levit
Zahal veterans Dror (Skipper) Cohen, Arnon Efrati and Shimon ben Yakov reviewed their strategy fine-tuning their techniques for the later races.
Israel added: “There were a lot of hurdles to overcome and with good teamwork we achieved our goal to enter the competition in Rio.
It was fun, not a burden, and we all enjoyed it. The joy is that we fixed up our mistakes”
The team, from Bet Halochem in Haifa, commented on how welcoming the Melbourne community had been.
The Israelis also entered a husband and wife team in the Scud18 event which failed to qualify.
Atida Lipschatz contributed to this story. Her husband Jeff is president of ZDVO Bet Halochem Victoria.
