The opening ceremony of the 2022 World Surf League (WSL) took place on Friday afternoon on Plengkung Beach, also called G-Land, in Alas Purwo National Park, Banyuwangi district, East Java province.
General chairperson of the Indonesian Surfing Association (PB PSOI), Arya Sena Subyakto, said that the number of people attending the event is limited, thus it would not disturb the life of the fauna in the national park.
"Since it is a nature conservation area, there are only 200 people who can enter the competition venue," he told ANTARA via a telephone call.
The judge tower for the event has been built in the middle of the sea. Only surfing venues in Tahiti and Fiji have similar judge towers.
"Since the waves usually emerge in the middle of the sea, we had to build a judge tower there," the association head stated.
The waves at G-Land are among the best in the world, measuring up to two kilometers (km) in length, he added.
"However, we always depend on nature (regarding the size of the waves), hopefully during the match, the waves will be at their best," he said.
WSL G-Land is the fifth event of the World Championship Tour series in 2022. There will be 12 women and 24 men surfers of international renown at the competition.
Two are recipients of wild cards, such as Indonesian surfer Rio Waida, who gained an entry thanks to his international achievements, including winning the champion title at the Sydney Surf Pro earlier this week.
Another wildcard recipient is Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina who bagged the opportunity to compete at the event after becoming the world champion in 2021.
According to a post on his social media account, the Brazilian surfer has conducted a trial practice on the beach. He said that the beach has the fastest waves in the world.
The matches of the WSL G-Land are scheduled to take place from May 28 to June 6, 2022.
"However, if the forecast says that the waves will be poor, we will speed up to finish the event," Subyakto added.
Editor : Didik Kusbiantoro
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