Windsurfer Shahar Zubari won Israel’s first medal of the Beijing Olympics.
Zubari clinched third place and the bronze medal in the men’s RS:X by finishing second in Wednesday’s medal race in Qingdao.
The 2008 world champion, Tom Ashley of New Zealand, won gold with 52 overall points, one point better than silver medalist Julien Bontemps of France and six better than Zubari.
“I’m very satisfied with the results,” Zubari said. “Although I made some mistakes in the beginning, I decided to only focus on today’s race. My start today wasn’t that good, however – I’m lucky to have the wind on my side today.
“When I came to the finish line, I counted all the points and realized that I won bronze, and I was crazy with joy.”
Also Wednesday, Michael Kolganov of Israel and former Israeli Rami Zur, now representing the United States, failed to qualify for the men’s flatwater kayak single 1000-meter final after their semifinal heats.
