Oct 09
29
By IWSF
Putrajaya, Malaysia will host the final stop of the 2009 Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup series on Nov. 6-8. This will be the 29th stop in the current series. Following the spectacular stop in Liuzhou City in South West China earlier this month, Putrajaya now promises to once again deliver the perfect conclusion to what has been another very successful World Cup season.
Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, stressed the importance of the Olympic Games legacy for host cities. If ever there is a shining example of perfection in this area, it must be Putrajaya. The Water Sports Complex site, close to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, was virtually unknown as a vacation and water sports site when the Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup squad arrived for the first time in November 2008. Just one year later, a lot has changed. There is now a permanent and very active Waterski and Wakeboard club on site. Two special-purpose MasterCraft boats -– the official World Cup boat sponsor — have been purchased for the trainees. The national Malaysian Junior Waterski Training Program has been launched, experienced coaches have been employed and a series of very successful competitions have been completed. The 2009 Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Championships were staged in Putrajaya earlier this month.
The President of the Putrajaya Corporation, Tan Sri Samsudin Osman, announced this week that a 30-percent increase is expected in spectator attendance at the coming World Cup stop. Live TV coverage will be provided by RTM and a multi-camera Webcast will be available throughout. An edited World Cup TV show and news edit will be distributed to 500 million viewers worldwide.
The 2009 Putrajaya Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Stop will attract the world’s highest-ranked athletes who qualified in slalom, shortboard and jump. At least 13 countries will be represented including Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Mexico, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States. The final list of qualified entrants will be published in the coming days.
As this will be the last Waterski and Wakeboard World Cup Stop of the 2009 season, the overall World Cup Crystal Awards will be presented in Putrajaya at a special ceremony as the sun sets behind the palm trees at this spectacular tropical setting on Nov. 8. Malaysia’s rapid development of both Waterski and Wakeboard over this past year is a prime example of what exposure to a Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup stop can deliver.
