QINGDAO, (China): Aug 19: A second protest by Spanish 49er silver medallists Iker Martinez and Xavier Fernandez against the gold medal awarded to Denmark’s Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen was rejected on Tuesday.

“We have upheld our original decision,” chairman of the jury David Tillett said. “We do not believe we made any errors.”

A protest by the race committee and Spain was rejected by an international jury on Monday, a day after Denmark took gold after an extraordinary medal race in which Warrer and Ibsen sailed in a boat borrowed from the Croatian team after their mast snapped on the way to the start.

The jury said that despite infringement of technical rules, it had decided not to impose penalties as the Danes had not gained an unfair advantage by swapping boats.

Spain, along with Italy, filed a second appeal on Tuesday.

Italian brothers Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello finished fourth overall.

The Danes were presented with their gold medals on Monday.

At the medal winners’ news conference Martinez told reporters he was “happy” to win silver and congratulated the Danish team.—Reuters