WORLD CUP SERIES TO CELEBRATE 35th STOP AT PALEMBANG IN INDONESIA ON NOVEMBER 24/25

With the successful Cable Wakeboard World Championships just completed in the Philippines, now the best Waterski Slalom and Jump athletes will join the world’s best Wakeboarders in Indonesia for one of the most exciting conclusions to a season for the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) for many years.

The Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Series has already covered the globe from London to Beijing, Paris to Tokyo and many great cities in between. This 35th Stop in the Series will be the first to be staged in Indonesia. The Palembang venue in South Sumatra is one of Indonesia’s oldest cities in this Tropical Rainforest region. November temperatures usually average 31C/87Fh. The Musi River, spanned by the spectacular Ampera Bridge, flows through the City centre and so water based activities are nothing new to Palembang, also known as the City of Water Tours. In 2011, the City successfully hosted the Southeast Asian Games when over 6,000 athletes took part in 296 events at the Jakabaring Sports Complex.

This World Cup Stop will include the highest ranked IWWF Waterski Slalom, Jump and Wakeboard athletes. It will also include a host of current male and female World Champions and World Record holders. Wakeboard will also include both the current male and female IWWF World Champions. The 24 Countries, whose athletes have qualified for these World Cup invitations, include Australia, Belgium, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, France, Great Britain, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of South Africa, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, and USA.

This last World Cup Stop of the season will produce the 2012 Series Champions destined to receive the Crystal Trophy in Jump and Wakeboard. In Jump, at the top of the table right now are Ryan Dodd CAN, Scot Ellis USA and World Champion Freddy Krueger, USA. All will fight that final duel in Palembang. The top women contenders are Jacinta Carroll AUS, Marie Vympranietsova GRE and Marion Mathieu FRA. Sadly, an injury has forced strong contenders Natallia Berdnikova BLR and Maj Lund Jepsen DEN out of contention on this occasion.

In Wakeboard, the super stars are back in force once again. At the World Cup Stop last March in Mandurah, Western Australia, those Pro Women who dominated were Raimi Merritt USA, Amber Wing AUS and newcomer Bec Gange AUS. While they are likely to repeat their successes, do watch out for Caroline Djupsjo SWE and Sian Hurst IRL. In Pro Men, Harley Clifford AUS has won all recent World Cup Stops and still looks unbeatable but hot on his heels will be Steel Lafferty USA , Shota Tezuka JPN, the young 15 year old sensation Tony Iacconi AUS, plus others.

To greatly add to the exciting 35th World Cup Stop, the top Slalom Skiers will make a very welcome return to the event. Finding suitable venues for this discipline is never easy but this promises to be a real season highlight. Both current World Record Holders will appear – Chris Parrish USA and Regina Jaquess USA. Both current World Champions will also compete – Thomas Degasperi ITA and Whitney McClintock CAN. For the hundreds of thousands of Slalom addicts around the world, this will be a very special treat.

Palembang is at GMT+7hrs.

All of the action will be Webcast at : www.IWWF.TV

The Official Timetable will be released in the coming days – with the main action scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, November 24/25.

For more information contact: iwwfmedia@sportcal.com

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