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Surfer will take a well-deserved break, but not for too long By Yuval Azoulay After the Olympics, Shahar Zubari will likely take a break from competitive surfing, but he will definitely be back in time for next year's world championship in Tel Aviv, says his longtime coach, Roni Meir. "In any event, Shahar will take off a couple of months," explains Meir. "He underwent two intensive years for these Olympics. He will be released from the army in another month, and he will want to travel and do a little surfing just for fun." Zubari's trainer since Israel's last medal hope of 2008 was 6-years-old, Meir says his charge has nothing to lose today, as he is guaranteed at least fourth place in the RS:X medal round and could claim a bronze medal. "I'm an optimist by nature," he adds. Advertisement In Eilat, which Meir describes as a "large kibbutz where everybody knows everybody," Zubari's race is the only topic of conversation, according to the coach. Meir, who runs the municipal surfing club, noticed Zubari's talents at a young age. His thin build was an issue, says Meir, because "the size of a surfer's body affects the movements of the surfboard." With the 1.77m tall Zubari three to eight centimeters shorter than most surfers, "we trained him a lot working with a strong wind," says Meir. "We identified this challenge at a very early stage, and it paid off." Zubari has been with the club since age 11, winning several youth and adult championships on an international level, and eventually becoming the Israel's new hope after the Gal Fridman era. "He entered the picture at a good time," says his coach. "In 2005, the international sailing federation changed the class of Olympic surfing from Mistral to Neil Pryde. This forced Gal Fridman to take a break, while Shahar came in and garnered several victories." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Poor sports Here are the top 10 excuses for Israel's poor Olympics showing. Kafka the Zionist Remnants of Kafka's estate found in T.A. raise questions of his belief in Zionism.

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