IWWF steps up wakeboard Olympics bid

THE SPORT of wakeboarding will be gunning for its inclusion in the 2020 Olympics and will be making its push with the 2012 World Cable Wakeboard Championships on Nov. 10-11 at the Deca Wakeboard Park in Clark in Angeles, Pampanga.

The conduct of the upcoming event will have great significance for the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) as it bids to put the event for inclusion in the quadrennial games.

Wakeboard action actually gets going on Nov. 6 with the qualifiers up to Nov. 9.

Defending champions Nick Davies and Kirsteen Mitchell of Great Britain head the elite cast that also includes the gold medal Open winners in the recent Tokyo World Cup – Austria’s Angelika Shriber and Germany’s Frederic von Osten.

The number of countries seeing action in Clark has also doubled to 32, underscoring the tremendous growth of the sport with top bets from Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia and the Philippines, to be led Samantha Bermudez, Mark Griffin and Carlo dela Torre.

The Cable Wakeboard Worlds will feature men’s and women’s competitions in the open, juniors, veterans and masters categories as well as the highly technical Wake Skate discipline.

The growth of Cable Wakeboard Parks around the world has caught many by surprise. The unique combination of low cost, environmentally friendly and high return on investment features have given cities around the world a whole new lifestyle attraction for active young sports enthusiasts./Correspondent Jonas Panerio