A blue cloudless sky welcomed the 60 competitors to the beach site at Qantab, Muscat, Oman, for the start of competition in waterskiing’s inaugural participation in the Asian Beach Games.
The seas had moderated considerably overnight but would still prove challenging for skiers and riders more used to fresh water lakes.
First off were the twelve women wakeboard riders split into two quarter-final heats. With the top three competitors going through to the semi-finals it was Han Qiu (China) who topped heat one. Unsurprisingly in the more competitive heat Asian champion Chen Li-li topped the heat followed by Sasha Christian (SIN).
Jeanne Alfailakawi (KUW) was unfortunate just to miss out placing 4th in the heat but still stands a good chance of qualifying via the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ).
Competition in the men’s wakeboard competition was especially fierce with just the top two from the four quarter- final heats automatically going through to the semi-finals. It was particularly unfortunate for Hong Kong’s Julien Briestroff and Ronnie Cheung Ho Leung to be drawn in the same heat competing against Bunyalo Jumruang of Thailand (THA). After an excellent run Julien with 63.13 lead Ronnie with 59.24 before Bunyalo scored an impressive 68.35 relegating Cheung to the LCQ’s. In any other heat Cheung’s score would have also taken him straight into the semi-finals. Those topping the other heats and going straight into the semi-finals include Asian champion Padiwat Jaemjan (THA), Insang Jung (KOR) and Zhang Wei (CHN).
The women’s tricks followed with eleven participants competing including the Asian Game’s youngest competitor 7-years old Hanifah Aaliya Young of Malaysia. With a score of 1420 she held off competition from her elder sister Phillippa 1,250 to stand in 4th place against the three Chinese women trick skiers Jiang Hui 1,820, Soong Yu-fei 2,050 and Li Jin-mei 2,100.
Making his debut in an Asian event was Adel Mans. Al Harbi of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, however at the end of the day it was Maliki Zulkarnaini of Indonesia (INA)1850,Lun Sibo (CHN)1,870 and Kim Dongha (KOR) 2,960 who topped the leader board.
In the women’s LCQ it was Jeanne Alfailakawi who best responded to the challenge and qualified along with Dini Imaniar (INA).
The conditions were again deteriorating for the men’s LCQ which saw Carlo Dela Torre and Robert Caratti both from the Philippines take LCQ1 and 2 respectively. Fortunately Ronnie Cheung topped LCQ3 along with Tatsanai Kuaakoonrat (THA) and scrape into the semi-finals.
Competition starts again tomorrow morning at 0900.