Governor Alex Noerdin and Regona Jaquess enjoy victory pass

Taking place just 400km from the Equator at Palembang City in Indonesia in constant 33C / 96Fh temperatures, this 35^th World Cup Stop of the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) was one of the most spectacular of the current series.

The 24 Countries whose athletes qualified for invitations included 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. Following an action packed three-day programme, Sunday’s Finals produced some of the most competitive performances ever seen in Slalom, Jump and Wakeboard. Seven countries eventually captured the coveted World Cup Titles to bring this season to a successful conclusion.

WORLD CUP CELEBRATES 35th STOP IN INDONESIA

Sponsored by the Indonesian Sports Committee – Komite Olahraga Nasional / KONI and South Sumatra KONI, the event oragnisers were the Indonesian Waterski & Wakeboard Association. The Governor of South Sumatra, Alex Noerdin and Mr Muddai Madang, Chairman of KONI / South Sumatra Sports Committee, attended throughout. MasterCraft provided the competition boats and technical support throughout.

Sunday’s first Waterski Finals were for Women’s and Men’s Slalom. The four Women Finalists included

World Record Holder Chris Parrish at 35th World Cup Stop

the World Record holder, Regina Jaquess USA. However, it was Anais Amade FRA who set the standard from the start. In fact she held this lead till Regina Jaquess eventually entered the arena as the final contestant. With a score of three buoys on the 12m line, she took the 2012 Palembang World Cup Gold Medal in style – with Silver going to Anais Amade and Australia’s Karina Nowlan taking the Bronze Medal.

The Men’s Slalom Finals were unique. All but one contestant had a personal best score on the World Record rope length of 9.75m – a rare site which guaranteed the thousands of Palembang spectators a thrilling spectacle. Britain’s William Asher was third into the arena and his score of five buoys on 11.25m line took an early lead. The World Record Holder, Chris Parrish, was last to compete. Although he scored a solid four buoys on the 11.25m line, that was not enough to prevent Asher from taking the 2012 Palembang World Cup Slalom Gold Medal. This was his first World Cup title. Third place saw a draw between the two Italian Slalom specialists, Thomas Degasperi and Carlo Alais.

Packed arena for 35th World Cup Stop in Palembang

Wakeboard came next. In both the Pro Women and Pro Men events, the level of competition was the

World Cup Champion Harley Clifford AUS

highest ever seen in the World Cup series. In both cases, it was the current dominant series leaders who yet again took the Gold Medals – Raimi Merritt USA and Harley Clifford AUS. Sweden’s Caroline Djupso picked up an ankle injury which opened the door for Amber Wing AUS and Nicola Butler GBR to take the Silver and Bronze Medals. In the Men’s Finals, once Harley Clifford continued his extraordinary run of World Cup successes, what remained was a fascinating battle between the young sixteen year-old Tony Iacconi from Australia’s New South Wales, and the experienced past World Champion Andrew Adkison from Florida, USA. On this occasion, it was the teenager Iacconi who came out on top with the Silver Medal, just ahead of Adkison.

As threatening afternoon Tropical rainy season clouds appeared on the horizon, the Jump event brought the thousands of spectators to their feet. This level of Waterski Jumping has never been seen in

Marion, Jacinta and Regina - World Cup Jump Stars

Indonesia till now. Having already taken the Slalom Gold Medal, Regina Jaquess USA was back again with a jump distance of 47.2m. Marion Mathieu FRA just managed to beat this with 48.3m on her very last attempt. The young Australian sensation, Jacinta Carroll, who has only recently recovered from injury, was just a half meter short but this secured the Silver Medal for her – with Gold going to Mathieu and Bronze to Jaquess, her second medal of the day.

The Men’s World Record Holder, Freddy Krueger USA, was last off the dock in the Jump Finals. All assumed that he would dominate as he has done so often. It was Felipe Miranda CHI who set the early pace with a distance of 59.7m. This was quickly beaten by Ryan Dodd CAN who had all the appearances of true winner with a score of 62.4m. However, although he failed to beat Dodd with his first two attempts, in the closing seconds of the day, to add to the drama, Freddy Krueger did it once again with a distance of 63.6m to take the Gold Medal. Silver went to Dodd and Bronze to Miranda.

At the impressive Jakabaring Sports Complex, South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin and IWSF President Kuno Ritschard presented the special crystal World Cup Season Trophies for outstanding performances to Freddy Krueger USA, Marion Mathieu FRA, Raimi Merritt USA and Harley Clifford AUS.

The full Webcast show of this 35^th World Cup Stop is now available at www.IWWF.tv

Photos and comments are also available on the Facebook page : IWWF

Results are available at : http://www.iwwfed.com

Reports also available at : WaterskiandWakeboardWorldCup.com

END

Thursday World Cup Press Conference at Palembang

South Sumatra’s Palembang Airport, almost on the Equator, was even busier than usual today. Located a short flight from both Jakarta and Singapore, the city is about to host the final World Cup Stop of the Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Series of the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) this weekend. On Sunday evening, the coveted World Cup Season Champions will also be crowned here. With no less that five World Champions on site, all are anticipating a spectacular last battle for the titles and the World Cup cash prize. The events will include Wakeboard, Waterski Jump and Slalom.

As the major spectator facilities, MasterCraft competition boats, TV cameras and general site preparations were signed off today at the impressive Jakabaring Sports City complex, the experience gained in hosting the successful Southeast Asian Games here last year with 6,000 athletes involved, makes this a perfect World Cup location. The excellent flat water conditions, 32C temperatures and wonderful festival atmosphere, should produce some very impressive performances from both the Waterskiers and Wakeboard Riders on Saturday and Sunday.

All the Preliminary Rounds and Finals will be available on both days on  the World Cup Webcast site at : www.IWWF.TV

The Palembang, Indonesia, time zone is : Rio de Janeiro -9hrs, London -7hrs, Frankfurt -6hrs, Cape Town -5hrs, Moscow -3hrs, New York -12hrs,  Los Angeles -15hrs, Perth +1 hr, Tokyo +2hrs, Melbourne +4hrs.

Just before sunset the Press Conference on site at the Jakabaring Sports City complex attracted a large gathering of Press and TV representatives. The details were presented by Mr Danny Boestami, Competition Director, Mr Amhad Rizal, Organizing Director, Mr Muddai Madang, Chairman of KONI – South Sumatra Sports Committee, Paul Fong, IWWF Asia President and Des Burke-Kennedy, IWWF Marketing & Media Chairman.

The Opening Ceremony will take place at 15.00hrs on Friday with over 6,000 children, dancers and musicians scheduled to take part. The World Cup athletes from 24 countries will also be included in the parade.

The World Cup Timetable which will be covered by the free live Webcast will be as follows :

SATURDAY

08.00 – Slalom Women Preliminaries

09.15 – Slalom Men Preliminaries

11.30 – Wakeboard Women Semi-Finals

13.00 – Wakeboard Men Quarter Finals

15.00 – Jump Women Preliminaries

16.15 – Jump Men Preliminaries

SUNDAY

08.00 – Wakeboard Men LCQ

09.15 – Wakeboard Women LCQ

10.15 – Wakeboard Men Semi-Finals

11.45 – Slalom Women Finals

12.15 – Slalom Men Finals

13.15 – Wakeboard Women Finals

14.00 – Wakeboard Men Finals

15.00 – Jump Women Finals

15.45 – Jump Men Finals

17.00 – World Cup Medal Ceremony on site

This World Cup Stop will be sponsored by South Sumatra KONI Province, and the National Indonesian Sports Committee KONI – and organized by the Indonesia Waterski & Wakeboard Association. MasterCraft will again provide the competition boats and technical support.

Palembang Stars - Breanne Dodd CAN, Karina Nowlan AUS and Regina Jaquess USA

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

The successful Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Series has already covered the globe from London to

Beijing, Paris to Tokyo and many great cities in between. This 35^thStop in the Series will be the first to

Freddy Krueger USA and Will Furze of MasterCraft

be staged in Indonesia. The Palembang venue in South Sumatra is one of Indonesia’s oldest cities in this Tropical Rainforest climate 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.

This World Cup Stop will include the highest ranked IWWF Waterski Slalom, Jump and Wakeboard athletes. It will also include all current male and female Slalom and Jump 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 this season will deliver the 2012 Series Champions to receive the Crystal Trophy in Jump and Wakeboard. In Jump, at the top of the table right now are World Champion Freddy

Regina Jaquess USA

Krueger, USA, Scott Ellis USA and Felipe Miranda CHI. All will fight that final duel in Palembang. The top women contenders are Natallia Berdnikava BLR, Maj Lund Jepsen DEN and Lauren Morgan USA. However, an injury has forced Jepsen out of contention and all eyes will now be on Jacinta Carroll AUS who has just recovered from injury and relishes the chance of adding another Podium place to her Linyi China World Cup success in 2011.

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 and others.

To greatly add to the exciting 35^thWorld Cup Stop, the top Slalom Skiers will make a very welcome

Harley Clifford AUS

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 Slalom addicts around the world, this will be a very special treat.

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

The Official Timetable will be released in the coming days.