Bad day for Cyprus star Cariolou

It was a bad day for Cypriot windsurfer Andreas Cariolou at the Rio Games, after he slipped to 19th position in the overall standings.

Competing on Thursday in the RSX class, Preliminary Series, Cariolou came in 17th in Race 7, 25th in Race 8, and finished 23rd in Race 9.

He is currently ranked 19th in the overall standings on 120 penalty points. Cariolou will now struggle to advance to the Medal Race.

Leading the overall standings is Dorian van Rijsselberghe of the Netherlands.

The Preliminary Series at the Games consist of 12 races. The top 10 ranked athletes progress to the Medal Race. Races 10, 11 and 12, completing the preliminary competition, are scheduled for Friday.

Cariolou, 33, is competing at his fourth Olympics. He accomplished 13th-place finishes at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but failed to qualify for the Medal Race.

At the London Olympics, despite a bright start, he ultimately finished up in 17th place.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.