Thursday, Oct 24, 2013
Abu Dhabi: Some of the top flowboarders from across the globe have converged in Abu Dhabi to take part in the 6th annual Oakley Go Pro World Flowboarding Championships.
The event will take place at the UAE’s first mega waterpark, Yas Waterworld, on Friday and Saturday. Entrance is free to spectators from 2pm onwards with a chance to win daily prizes and giveaways.
The championship will see competitors from six countries — the USA, Spain, Singapore, South Africa, Chile besides the hosts — and the region’s own former world champion, Clayton Barker, will be going for gold in the strapless stand-up division.
With tough competition from current world champion Eric Silverman of the US, who has won every major event in the history of the sport for the past six years, the UAE’s biggest hope for success must pull out all stops. With the home advantage, Barker is confident he can deliver a strong result after training with the UAE team for the past few months.
Ryan Watkins, Marketing Manager at Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi, said: “Following the intense qualifiers, which have taken place on the FlowBarrel 10 at Yas Waterworld over recent weeks, we’re now looking ahead to welcoming the world’s best flowboarders to the park this weekend. Team UAE is in excellent shape and we’re excited to find a new Flowboarding hometown hero.”
The UAE team has been training non-stop for the upcoming World Championship and was looking strong, Barker said.
“The team consists of eight flowboarders, of which two are Emirati nationals: Mohammad Darwish Ebrahim and Humaid Obaid, who have shown fantastic capabilities and talents during the qualifying rounds.
“Flowboarding is a new sport in the region, so we are proud to see local talents achieving world class standards, and we’re looking to create a future world champion in the sport of flowboarding in the near future thanks to the leading facilities on offer at Yas Waterworld,” Barker added.
Staff Report
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
