2023-09-21 16:28:28
The boards will slide on the water of the Choisy-le-Roi interdepartmental sports park for three days. Since this Thursday and until Saturday, the Kable facilities, the water ski lift of the new Guy Leprince National Technical Center of the French Water Ski and Wakeboard Federation (FFSNW), are hosting the 24th European and African Championships. A first in Ile-de-France.
“We are expecting around a hundred competitors,” explains Patrice Martin, the president of the FFSNW, who is looking forward to it: France hosted this competition for the first time in 2012 in Toulouse. » Sixteen countries will be represented and seven titles are at stake, six individual and one team.
Athletes pulled by a cable at a speed of 30 km/h
For athletes, both able-bodied and disabled, the objective remains the same, to obtain the most points by performing compulsory and free figures on their board, towed with a cable at 30 km/h. “They have to do tricks, take springboards, rails like on a skateboard,” explains the head of the federation. The difficulty of the figure and finally the commitment to the obstacle, without forgetting the quality of the execution, are taken into account in the final score. » In total, 16 obstacles await them.
On the menu for these competitors, three different categories with wake board, wake skate, “like on a skateboard the feet are not attached to the board”, as Patrice Martin describes it, and finally the seated category, for disabled people. . “As part of the future World Championships, disabled people, men and women, are an integral part of the team with the able-bodied,” adds this sports enthusiast. It’s an inclusive sport. »
Fans of this sport – the federation has nearly 22,000 members – or simple beginners will be able to enjoy the place, with the installation of a 350-seat grandstand, without forgetting stands for food.
Le Kable, at the Choisy Sports Park, Nautical base at Plaine Nord, in Choisy-le-Roi. The semi-finals begin on Saturday at 9 a.m. and the finals begin in the early afternoon. Demonstrations and tests are also on the program. Free admission.
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