IWWF Asia Oceania

The NAUTIQUE Asian Waterski & Wakeboard Championships 2013 continued on Sunday the 29th of September with the Open finals in the tournament disciplines of slalom, jump and tricks, followed by the wakeboard finals.
Although pushed by Korea’s Han Ah-Reum who improved considerably over her first round score with one buoy at 55kph on a 13-metre line, Saaya Hirosawa (Japan) made two to take the ladies’ title. Third placed Sasha Christian (Singapore), more normally seen on a wakeboard than slalom ski, was delighted to take the bronze medal.

The Open Men’s slalom followed with 12 finalists. Former F1 driver Alex Yoong put in a credible performance but could not compete with the six who got onto a 12-metre line. Of these only the second last off the dock, Kim Dongeon, failed to improve on his first round score. After a mistake on the first buoy it was a matter of trying to catch up on his timing for Salvador Chiha (Lebanon) but he still ran three buoys at 12m leaving the last skier Cho Bumgeun (Korea) to beat his opening round score of 2/58/12. He improved by two buoys to take the title with 4/58/12.

alt=”img_4234_2-cho-bumgeun.jpg” />

Saaya Hirosawa (Japan) earned another gold medal in Ladies Open Jump clearing 42.5m with her Japanese team mate Harue Kamiya (37.5m) taking silver and Jan Da-hyeong (Korea) bronze.

The first four Men’s Open jumpers all improved on their first round jumps but with the wind increasing the next four fell short. Lying 2nd after round one, Shunjiro Hagama (Japan ) was unable to repeat his 49m first round jump but did enough with 45.1m to take bronze. Having cleared 46.7m Yuichi Yamamoto took silver while ‘Jumping Jimmy’ Jeong Jimin (Korea) matched his first round score of 51.1 metres on his opening jump to retain his title.

Open Ladies Tricks followed with the young Arianna Chow (Malaysia), who has only been skiing for just over a year, put in a credible score of 3120 points.

Finishing in 4th place in her weakest discipline Saaya Hirosawa (Japan) still earned maximum points towards her Overall title. China’s Song Yu Fei raised the bar with 4880 whilst Jiang Hui (China) pushed the total score higher with 5380. With 5050 points in the Under 17 Girl’s tricks last off the dock, 10-year old Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah needed to complete close to a perfect pass. She did not disappoint with 5690 points winning gold for Malaysia.

It was then straight into the Ladies wakeboard finals where Saasha Christian earned her second bronze medal matching that earned with her slalom exploits. Yun Hee-hyun scored 55.65 but could not match the skills of China’s Han Qiu with 65.45 who took the crown.

The Men’s wakeboard final was to prove a battle between with the old guard on the Asian circuit of Tatsanai Kuakoonrat and Padiwat Jaemjan (Bomb) both of Thailand and the Korean usurpers to the crown.
Tatsanai Kuakoonrat put in a super clean display to finish with 71.12 before Ji Hoon (Korea) responded with two stand-up passes behind the 210 Super Air Nautique. However it was the performance of the young Korean Yun Sang-hyun that wowed the enthusiastic commentator and the spectators. Although not the cleanest of rides he landed his tricks including a KGB and Toe 9 in awesome display to take the lead with 82.12.

The pressure was on the last rider Bomb to maintain the Thai’s preminence or hand over the mantle. Unfortunately a fall on both passes sealed his fate with the 15-year old Korean Yun Sang-hyun crowned the new Asian champion.

Korea likewise took the overall wakeboard team award with Singapore 2nd and Indonesia 3rd.

The Indonesia Waterski & Wakeboard Association is to be congratulated on the success of the 2013 NAUTIQUE Asian Waterski & Wakeboard Championships and there wonderful hospitality.

Results available at:
NAUTIQUE 2013 Asian Under 17 Waterski Championships
http://www.iwwfed-ea.org/classic/13/13ASIA001/13ASIA001.html

NAUTIQUE 2013 Asian Open Waterski Championships
http://www.iwwfed-ea.org/classic/13/13ASIA002/13ASIA002.html

content/uploads/2013/09/img_4092_1-mark-leong.thumbnail.jpg” />The Asian Waterski & Wakeboard Championships have again returned to Lake Sunter, Jakarta, where the Indonesia Waterski & Wakeboard Association (IWWA) last hosted the event in 2010 when it was combined with the Asian & Australasian championships.

Originally scheduled for Palembang the event was switched at the last minute to Jakarta where the IWWA are playing the perfect hosts.

The future looks particularly bright for the U17 boys with Indra Hardinate of Indonesia putting in a fine slalom performance in his first round of 1.25 buoys at 58 kph on a 12-metre line to match the front runners in the Open.

In the Open Ladies Slalom on Thursday Saaya Hirosawa topped the leader board with 3.5 buoys at 55kph on a shortened 13-metre line (3.5/55/13) amongst the ten skiers.

Out of the 20 men slalom skiers representing nine Asian countries three ran their 13-m pass with Salavador Chiha (Lebanon) scoring a ½ buoy on the 12-metre line, Kim Dongeon (Korea) scoring one buoy and Cho Bumgeon (Korea) topping the tables with two buoys.

Saayah Hirosawa (40.9m) again out jumped her colleague Kamiya Harue (37.5m) to find herself leading the jump field whilst ‘Jumping Jimmy’ Jeong Jimin scored a 57.1m jump to take the lead while Hagama Shunjiro (Japan) leads the men’s trick prelims with a score of 5390 points.
The Women’s wakeboard semi-finals got underway today, Saturday 28th with Han Qiu (China), Yun Hee-hyun (Korea ), Sasha Christian (Singapore) and Nadya Atlalia Sinaga (Indonesia) qualifying directly for the finals whilst Galuh Mutiara Maulidina (INA) and Lee Sun-joo (Korea) qualified by way of the last chance qualifier (LCQ).
Padiwat Jaemjan (THA), Guy Tanaka (JAP). Tatsanai Kuakoonrat (THA)and Jung Sang-hyu (KOR) will lead the challenge against the remaining Korean open men riders Yung Sang-hyu and Ji Hyun, with Bader Alyihager of Kuwait also scraping into the finals.
In the Men’s Wakeboard quarter-finals Hong Kong’s Ronnie Cheung Ho Leung put in a fine performance to qualify directly for the semi-finals but failed to progress into the finals.
With almost perfect conditions the situation is set for fierce competition in the finals tomorrow.

A brief stopover in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, allowed AO Secretary General, Chris Howarth, to reminisce about his and IWWF President Kuno Ritschard’s involvement in the waterski and wakeboarding competitions held at Lotus Pond during the 2009 World Games.

At that time the local government invested heavily in draining and dredging the pond, sloping the banks and refilling it with clean
water.


Today the lake includes a small cable ‘Lotus Cable Park’ which is to be extended to a five-pylon cable later this year.

The lake is not only used by the skiers and riders

but is also a popular fishing area not just for the locals but the birds as well.

This has left a wonderful legacy after the World Games.
The next World Games are to be held in Cali, Columbia July 23-29 2013.

41 cable wakeboard riders from 19 countries converged on the Shun Yi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park over the weekend of the 8-9th June 2013 for the grand opening of the new Shunyi Olympic Cable Park and a share in the US50,000 prize-money.

Under-utilised since the 2008 Beijing Olympics the operators of the park, the Beijing Shunyi Olympic Aquatic Park Investment & Development Center, have seen the potential of incorporating both a cable wakeboard system as well as boat powered waterskiing and wakeboarding on the lake.
The event was organised by the IWWF Asian Waterski & Wakeboard Confederation in conjunction with the China Water Sports Administration, the Chinese Water Ski Association and the local municipal government, and sponsored by the Yanjing Beer Group
Friday the 7th of June was set aside as practice day before the official opening on Saturday morning the 8th June 2013.
The dull and overcast conditions on Saturday and steady drizzle on Sunday failed to deter some of the best cable wakeboard riders in the world from performing spectacularly
Competition began after the opening ceremony

with the pro-women semi-finals with the 15 riders split into two heats from which, after two runs of the course, the two top scores from each heat would qualify for the finals..
Cosima Giemza (Germany) and Angelika Schriber (Australia) topped the table in group A along with Maxine Sapulette (Netherlands) and Astrid Schabransky (Austria) from group B.
In the pro-men’s quarter-finals Laszlo Papp (Hungary), Ethan Agius (Australia), Szebasztian Szolath (Hungary), Im San (Korea), Nick Davies (Great Britain), Declan Clifford (Great Britain), Dominik Guhrs (Germany) and Matty Hasler (Australia) all made it through to the semi-finals .
The remaining 18 riders had a second chance to qualify through the LCQ for the remaining eight places in the semis with Ken Tackmann (Thailand), Tom Richter (Germany), Emilio Epstein (Austria), Mark Griffin (Philippines), James Young (Great Britain),Fahkrudin Mohd. Yasin (Singapore), Padiwat Jaemjan (Thailand) and Austin Hair (USA) making it through.
Im San (Korea) and Ken Tackmann (Thailand) qualified for the finals along with Guhrs, Szolath, Davies, Hasler, Agius and Hair.
From the pro-women’s LCQ Jaimi Oxlade (Australia), Tor Young (Great Britain), Khamlom Srirasin (Thailand) and Courtney Angus (Australia) made it through to the finals.
Maxime Sapulette topped the table after the first round of the pro-women’s finals with a score of 65 ahead of Cosima Giemza with 61, but with a second round score of 70.33 Giemza took the honours and the US$5,000 prize-money when Sapulette crashed out on her final trick off the small kicker. 15-year old Jaimi Oxlade finished third.

After an early fall in the first round of the pro-men finals Im San recovered in the second to score 70.83 and take 4th position

knocking Matty Hasler, whose score of 70 matched his bib number, into 5th-place. Hasler was unable to improve on his first round leaving the top three to fight it out for the podium positions and the US$10,000 first prize. Neither Nick Davies with 71.67 nor Szebasztian Szolath with 76 were able to improve on their scores falling during their final runs.
This left Dominik Guhrs to do a lap of honour on his final round, having already secured the title and prize-money. He still improved on his first round score with 81.67 making a worthy champion.

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)


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).

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.

It is with much sadness that Frank Bonney from Australia passed away on 4^th October 2012. Frank will be remembered for his commitment to waterskiing and the development of a world class waterski site, Bonney’s Waterski Park. Frank will be missed but his legacy will live on. Sincere condolences to Heather Lynette Bonney

Conditions first thing for the start of the competition finals on Monday 27th August 2012 were ideal. The approaching typhoon was giving rise for concern and an emergency programme was put in place to complete the championships within the day. This involved maintaining the two separate ski and wakeboard sites.
The tournament waterskiing competition resumed with the women’s slalom finals with Phillipa Yoong (MAS) scoring 0.5 buoys at 55kph on a 13 metres line (0.5/55/13) to capture the Asian gold medal. The Asian, Australasian & Oceanian (AAO) gold went to Michale Briant (AUS) with Lana Donaldson (NZL) taking silver.
Conditions remained ideal for the start of the men’s slalom with eighth off the dock Salvador Chiha (LIB) posting an excellent score of 2/58/11.25, a target which, as the wind picked up and conditions deteriorated, looked increasingly like a medal contender. Lying in at least silver medal position with just Ryan Green (AUS), who had matched this score in his first round, to go, Green having completed the 14.25-metre pass opted to return on a 12-metre line but scored just four before crashing out. The gold medals in both the Asian and AAO were Chiha’s, being the first Asian to take the AAO title.
Whilst the U17 awards were being presented the women’s jump competition commenced with the three Japanese women Kazumi Inoue, Harue Kamiya and Saaya Hirosawa taking the Asian podium positions with bronze, silver and gold medals respectively. However, Hirosawa’s jump of 41.1 metres was also good enough to capture the AAO gold with Chelsea Scott’s jump of 38.5m relegating Kamiya to bronze.

The Stars of Florida then performed their entertaining ski show before the men’s jump got underway.
Unfortunately by then the breeze had continued to strengthen and the Chief Judge called a temporary
halt to proceedings. With conditions failing to improve skiing was called off for the day with a decision to be made early the next morning whether the men’s jump and men and women’s tricks could be completed.
Meanwhile the wakeboarding competition continued but the rescheduling entailed the elimination of the last chance qualifier round.
In the Asian wakeboard championships on Sunday 26th August Miku Asai (JPN) took the gold from Chen Li Li (CHN) whilst Shota Tezuka (JPN) relegated Tatsanai Kuakoonrat (THA) to silver in the men’s with Japan taking the team event.
With a separate competition held for the AAO’s there were different riders on the podium other than Tatsanai Kuakoonrat (THA) who this time captured gold beating out both Australian’s Corey Teunissen and Tony Iacconi. In the women’s AAO gold was won by Bec Gange (AUS) with a score of 59.87 relegating Sasha Christian (SIN) into silver medal position with 56.12. Australia took the team gold and the newly presented Max Kirwan perpetual shield.
Conditions failed to improve the next morning and no further skiing was deemed possible. Consequently using the scores from the first round medals were awarded. Jeong Jimin (KOR) with 55.5m took the Asian gold and AAO silver, whilst Ryan Green (AUS) jump of 58.2 was good enough for the AAO gold
medal.
Likewise with a trick score of 9910 in his first round Green topped the podium AAO positions with Josh Briant 9270 second. Shunjiro Hagama (JPN) took the Asian gold medal with 5180 from Shi Long Fei (CHN).
In the women’s event the two Chinese women Jiang Hui and Song Yu Fei tied their scores on 4930 to share the gold medal with 9-year old Aaliyeh Yoong-Hanifah (MAS) taking bronze with her new Malaysian record of 4220.