Chuncheon City, home of some 300,000 Koreans, has opened its arms to welcome the 200 skiers, riders, barefooters, officials and their families from twelve countries attending the 2008 Chuncheon IWSF Asian Australasian Region Tournament, Barefoot and Wakeboard Championships 4-7th September 2008.
Last hosted by the Korean Water Ski Association in 1996 at the Seoul Olympics’ rowing regatta site, the International Water Ski Federation Asia Australasia (IWSF AA) is delighted to be back and is already overawed in respect of the Korean hospitality.
The ski site has to-date exceeded expectations and after the first day some fine individual results have been recorded.
Jon Cannon (Hong Kong) leads the field in men’s slalom, after the first round in both the AA and Asian Championships, being run simultaneously, with 1 buoy @11.25m. Tim Bradstreet (Australia) lies 2nd with 5.5@ 13m just one quarter buoy better than Jo Bum Keun (Korea). In men’s tricks Tim holds the ace with 6500 points with Shi Long-fei (China) in 2nd place with 5,710.
Emma Sheers (Australia) overcame her dose of flu to run 2.5 buoys @12m leading Toni Atkinson (New Zealand) while Song Yu-fei (China) scored 4880 to lead women’s tricks ahead of Hiroko Komori (Japan). Saaya Hirosawa (Japan) jumped 40.3m to head women’s jump with Fong Mei (China) at 38.4m. Time ran out to start the men’s jump now rescheduled for tomorrow along with preliminary rounds of Barefoot and Wakeboard.
In his welcoming address the President of the 2010 World Leisure Congress and Games Organising Committee President Son Eun-Nam looked forwards to their involvement with the IWSF over the next three years. Apart from hosting the AA Regional Championships this will include the 2009 World Wakeboard Championships, culminating in a World Cup event in 2010 to be held in conjunction with the 2010 World Leisure Congress and Games in which the IWSF is delighted to be a part.