Saltonstall gets assertive

Sailing

Britain's Olympic coach, Jim Saltonstall, will tell his team this morning to take no nonsense from the opposition in one of the last two important regattas in the build-up to the Games.

"I will be telling them that if we become involved in incidents on the water then we should show the rest of the world we will not be messed around, here or in Savannah," he said. "But we are not seeking to substitute success in a protest for success on the race course.

"As in so many other sports, confidence and establishing your place in the pecking order are vitally important."

That should be no problem for Britain's medal favourites, John Merricks and Ian Walker in the 470. The Soling team of Andy Beadsworth, Barry Parkin and Adrian Stead is also putting together some impressive results.

Where some work needs doing is with Bethan Raggatt and Sue Carr in their bid for consistency as well as speed in the women's 470 and Shirley Robertson, who is trying yet another new carbon fibre mast in her Europe singlehander.