America's Cup: Europe's hopes come up trumps

Will the lead last in the final on Sunday? Europe's number one hopefuls continue to keep their Cup rivals at bay: ahead of the final day in Fukuoka, Japan, Sir Ben Ainslie and his British team Land Rover BAR have even extended their lead in the overall standings of the America's Cup World Series. After the first three races on Saturday, the Englishmen lead the classification in Japan ahead of the American Cup defenders and Emirates Team New Zealand. The teams are also competing in this order in the overall standings for podium places and points for the qualifying series for the 2017 America's Cup.

49er Olympic Champion Peter Burling, Finn Olympic Champion Giles Scott, Volvo Ocean Race Winner Franck Cammas, 49er Olympic Champion Nathan Outteridge, Cup Defender Jimmy Spithill and SoftBank Team Japan's Kazuhiro "Fukui" Sofuko in interviews about their teams and their chances on Sunday

The Brits took the lead in Japan with 1st, 3rd and 2nd place, with the American Oracle Team USA just behind in second place with 4th, 2nd and 1st. The New Zealanders secured third place with places 2, 5 and 3. The home team was inconsistent: Dean Barker's SoftBank Team Japan opened the home match with 5th place, then delighted its fans with an acclaimed victory, but finished the day in 6th place. Here to see the individual results and the overall standings in the world series.

This will lead to the hoped-for showdown on Sunday, when the three races of the day will count double. This means that the Americans still have the chance to knock the Brits, who are 15 points ahead of them, off the throne. Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill vehemently announced the slogan for this: "I think we have to go out there tomorrow and fight as hard as we can. It's so hard to push a boat to the back, but if opportunities present themselves, we'll take them. We're not keen on second place. In the end, the only thing that matters tomorrow is concentrating on winning races."

The skipper talks about the remaining chances for his Oracle Team USA to win the World Series with a victory in the final after all

Leader Sir Ben Ainslie has nothing else in mind. The four-time Olympic champion said after the successful season opener in Japan: "It's clear that Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand will use every opportunity tomorrow to chase us down and push us back. We opened the door for them in race two(Editor: with third place instead of another victory). It's tough out there. So we will have to expect such manoeuvres. We would love to win the regatta in Fukuoka, but for us it's all about the overall result of the series."