Gold for Prokofjevs in the combat aeromodelling

"Thanks to my dad, who builds the best planes in the world," said Latvian Aleksandrs Prokofjevs after beating Jussi Forss from Finland to win gold in the F2D Combat Model Aircraft contest at the FAI World Air Games in Dubai.

The father-and-son team fought off stiff competition from 15 other countries, flying their control-line model planes at 160km/h and slicing sections off rivals' tail streamers to score points.

The final was held in stiff wind, which added to the challenge for Prokofjevs. "I never flew in wind like this before," he said, before joking that it might have helped. "I might have to wait for strong wind before I win again," he added with a smile.

Ingemar Larsson, the race director said the finals and the semi finals had been "fantastic battles".

"The wind made it faster, making the planes harder to control," he said.

Both challengers in the final took one slice out of each other's tails, earning 100 points. But Forss lost out on "ground time" having spent more seconds of the race crashed out. The final score was 416 to 308.

The next world championship will be held in Australia.

By Andy Pag

Photo: Marcus King / FAI Media Team

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