2013 Asian Wakeboard Cup (Linyi Stop)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Posted by Chris

The city of Linyi, Shandong province, China, on the banks of the Yi River, in 2011 hosted a highly successful IWWF World Waterski & Wakeboard Cup and between 5th and 6th of June 2013 invited riders returned for the 2013 Asian Wakeboard Cup (Linyi Stop).
10 women and 13 men riders from Asia and Australia were invited to join the competition for prize-money totaling US$41,000.
Starting on Tuesday 5th of June 2013 there were no surprises in the two pro-women heats with both Han Qiu (China)
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and Yun Heeh-yun (Korea) qualifying directly for the finals from heat 1 and Caitlin Blaauw (Australia) and Chen Li-li (China) from heat 2. Two of the remaining six were given a second chance next morning to qualify for the finals through a last chance qualifier (LCQ).
In the three heats for the pro-men 9th seeded Bader Aljihayem (Kuwait) took the first of two semi-final spots from his heat along with Padiwat Jaemjam (Thailand).
Completing an impressive two passes Toshiki Yasui (Japan) earned automatic qualification into the semi-finals along with Ji Hoon (Korea) relegating Hong Kong’s Cheung Ho Leung to the men’s LCQ. In the final heat Toshinari Yasui’s (Japan) likewise caused an upset qualifying for the semi-final along with Shota Tezuka (Japan).
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An impressive opening ceremony, attended by local officials, sponsors and Beijing sports officials, followed and included a jet-ski parade, show-ski display, beauty pageant and display of regional minority costumes.
Njavascript:void()ext morning in the women’s LCQ Emi Kawashiri (Japan) and Joo Seul-kee (Korea) took the final places in the women’s finals. This was followed by the men’s LCQ which saw Guy Tanaka (Singapore) and Zhang Wei (China) from heat 1 and Jung Insang (Korea) and Jung Sang-hyun (Korea), heat 2 going through to the men’s semi-finals.

Two five-men semi-final heats followed from which the top three qualified for the finals. The Japanese Yasui brothers Toshinari and Toshiki both qualified for the finals, while Padiwat Jaemjam fell early into his second pass and lost out for a place in the finals to Guy Tanaka (Singapore).
In heat 2 Shota Tezuka (Japan) did enough despite a fall to top the scores and qualify for the finals along with Koreans Ji Hoon and Jung Insang.
Thereafter a change in wind direction caused choppy water conditions making it particularly difficult for the women finalists. Caitlin Blaauw (Australia) coped best to take the women’s title with local favourite Chen Li-li (China) 2nd and Yun Hee-yun (Korea) 3rd.
The men coped better with the conditions in the finals with the Japanese dominating the podium with Toshinari Yasui 3rd, Toshiki Yasui 2nd and with a score of 83.45 Shota Tezuka taking 1st place.
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