Kuno Ritschard, President of the International Water Ski Federation (IWSF), released details of the calendar of the IWSF Waterski and Wakeboard World Cup series organized for this season. Having successfully completed 21 stops to date, the locations fixed for this year are the most exotic so far.
The venues announced are Dubna on the Volga River in Russia, the Palm Hills Development Wakeboard World Cup on the Mediterranean in Egypt, Doha in Qatar in the Arabian Gulf, Putrajaya, the new Government City in Malaysia, downtown Singapore just above the Equator and Hyderabad south of Mumbai in India. With six stops in total, three will incorporate wakeboard and three will include water skiing. Further new locations are already under negotiation for the coming four years.
The original objectives of the World Cup series were, and still are, to bring the very best IWSF athletes to compete in high population downtown and exotic locations around the world and to maximize media and sponsor exposure. The 2008 World Cub schedule ticks all the boxes. Population-wise, Hyderabad leads this year’s field with 38 million, Dubna’s Moscow Region has 7 million, Singapore has 4.5 million, Egypt’s Hacienda Bay west of Alexandria has 4 million, Putrajaya on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur has 1.5 million and Qatar has 1 million. In other words, the 2008 Waterski and Wakeboard World Cup series will take place on the doorstep of over 56 million potential fans !
In 2007, reports produced for the IWSF by Mediadvice LLC and Videosol London estimated that the total worldwide TV news and edited TV shows of the World Cup series reached 296 million viewers with over 120 hours total coverage. The IWSF arrangements for 2008 will expand this coverage further. News releases will again be distributed to over 12,000 Media contacts around the world for every World Cup stop.
The IWSF World Cup Calendar dates are as follows :
JULY 24-26 : Dubna, Russia / WATERSKI
AUGUST 13-15 : Palm Hills Development, Egypt / WAKEBOARD
OCTOBER 10-12 : Singapore / WAKEBOARD
OCTOBER 13-15 : Doha, Qatar – WATERSKI / WAKEBOARD
NOVEMBER 7-9 : Putrajaya, Malaysia - WATERSKI
NOVEMBER TBA : Hyderabad, India / WATERSKI
The IWSF athletes selection process and those who have qualified for the 2008 World Cup series will be announced shortly. As in the previous 21 successful World Cup stops, the men and women selected will represent at least 15 countries. MasterCraft will continue to supply the very latest competition boats, backup service and logistics throughout the entire 2008 global journey.
