PETALING JAYA: National sailor Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif (pix) is ready to sacrifice the holy month of Ramadan and the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations to pursue her dream of a good performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics scheduled from July 26 to Aug 11.

The sailor who had qualified for the Paris Olympics after winning the women’s ILCA 6 sailing event at the Hangzhou Asian Games, will be based in Europe to undergo intensive training and compete in two major sailing competitions, ahead of Paris.

Nur Shahzrin who made her debut at the 2016 Rio Olympics finished in 33rd position and fared slightly better during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by finishing in 26th position.

After having shown a marked improvement in recent competitions, the sailor is hoping to do much better in Paris.

Among challenges that Nur Shazrin is expected to face during her training stint in Europe is to observe a and fulfil a month-long fasting obligation that starts on March 12 whilst training in the open seas as well as missing the opportunity to celebrate the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festival with her loved ones.

“To observe fasting while training is conducted at sea is always tough. When the sun sets late it makes it even more difficult but after a few days of training under such conditions I should be able to get accustomed to the weather and prevailing conditions,” she told reporters after meeting the Paris Olympics Chef-de-Mission Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, here today.

Nur Shazrin who returned home after competing in the 2024 Europe Senior ILCA and European Open Cup in Athens, Greece, will continue to train here for three weeks before heading to Palma, Mallorca in Spain for training, before competing in the Last Chance Regatta in Hyeres, France from April 18 to 27.

She will continue to be based in Europe until the Olympics.

“The Last Chance Regatta will have two categories of competitions - one for those who have qualified for the Olympics and the second for those who have not qualified. The competition will give me an opportunity to gauge my performance against the established sailors from Europe.

“That will certainly give an opportunity to identify weaknesses or areas that need to be improved before the Olympics,” she said.

Meanwhile, Brazilian Julia Martins, who just started her role as national coach about two weeks ago, said she will focus on increasing Nur Shazrin’s fitness and endurance during the three-week training at the National Sailing Center in Langkawi.

“It is a very strong fleet of girls, so we do have to improve a little bit of fitness. We are going for light wind (training) session here in Malaysia, and going for gym training and cycling to improve fitness, before leaving to Palma.

“During the Olympics, we are expecting strong winds and very wavy, that’s why we are planning to go for a long season in Europe training, specially in Palma, which is very close to Marseille, the sailing venue,” she said. -Bernama