Story by REDintern Zachary Foo. Photos by Sasha Christian/Red Sports
Andy Huang (NUS) on his way to becoming the Men’s Freeride champion. Although he didn’t have a full stand-up pass, he completed enough high intensity tricks to beat his competitors. (Photo 1 © Sasha Christian/Red Sports)
Bedok Reservoir, Sunday, July 29, 2013 — Andy Huang of the National University of Singapore (NUS) caused an uproar in the the Rip Curl Singapore National Inter-Varsity and Polytechnic Wakeboarding Championships by pulling off a stunning victory. He was the lowest-seeded wakeboarder heading into the preliminary rounds because he sat out the competition in the previous year due to personal commitments. Nevertheless, he showed no signs of rust as he pulled off a stunning routine to top his heat. He continued his good run of form in the final round, pulling off tricks at an extremely high intensity to seal the win.
Andy said: “I wasn’t too pleased with my own performance today, came up short on some of the tricks I was confident on landing. Nonetheless, I was happy to see everyone else stepping it up this year, and really progressing on. Hopefully next year, we’re able to come down and give an even better performance!”
Runner-up Parvinder was also satisfied with his performance. “Very happy, I did my dream pass today.”
Ng Wei Teck of the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), who finished third, felt that he did well in his run. “I’m so happy with the results. It’s my first time competing after my injury, and it’s also my first time taking part in IVP!”
In the Men’s Freeride final, Parvinder Singh of Temasek Polytechnic (TP) gave Andy a run for his money, pulling off a flawless run which focused a lot on technical tricks. He was the only wakeboarder to complete a stand-up pass in the final round. Andy stepped up in a big way, pulling off huge air on his tricks, blending it with smooth execution and also exhibiting variety in his trick repertoire. Even though Andy fell twice on his run, it was more than enough to secure him the win from the judges.
Conditions were perfect for wakeboarding on Sunday, with clear sunny skies as the wakeboarders looked to land their best tricks in the final rounds in an event organised by the Singapore Wakeboard Waterski Federation (SWWF).
Each competitor had two passes in their routine to impress the judges and were judged according to three criteria: execution (how well and fluid the tricks were performed or landed), intensity (how high their jumps were made) and composition (how tricks are placed one after another and variety of tricks performed).
Padma Lau of the Singapore Management University (SMU) edged out Fion See Toh of Republic Polytechnic (RP) to claim the top spot in the Women’s Novice final. Her combination of power slides and two-wake jumps were enough to help her score enough points with the judges to secure her win.
Vincent Widjaja of SIM stood out in the Novice final, landing two-wake jumps in both the regular and switch stance on his passes, something which his peers in the division were unable to perform. This display of strong fundamentals was duly rewarded by the judges, who gave him a high score and first place.
Casey Yew (TP) was a class above the others in the Intermediate final, landing an array of method and stalefish grabs to chalk up points for composition. He also combined them with huge airs on each of his jumps, something his other competitors were unable to maintain, resulting in a run with no falls at all in his two passes. This allowed Casey to romp his way to victory with a 21-point margin.
Casey was extremely happy with his performance today, especially after recovering from an injury. “It was pretty good! I was lucky today because my shoulder didn’t hurt. It wasn’t my best performances but it was still good. I hope to make the top three next year when I make the jump to Freeride!”
SMU completed a one-two finish in the Women’s Freeride final as Denise Wong and Jasmine Ng finished first and second respectively. Both ladies were neck-and-neck in their runs, pulling off similar tricks in their routines. However, Denise managed to eke out the win, as she was more refined technically and had more air off her jumps.
The Best Trick Contest consisted of the six men from the Men’s Freeride final along with three invited wakeboarders, which included 2012 Rip Curl Best Trick winner, Joshua Tay. Each wakeboarder had to call out their trick before performing and had two attempts to land it. One of the biggest moments in the event came when Richard Raju attempted the frontflip, a trick that he has never practiced before and managed to land on his second attempt. There were cheers and high-fives all round for Richard after he returned to dry land. However, he was overshadowed by 2012 winner Joshua, who performed a perfect whirlybird (a heelside backflip with a backside 360) on both of his passes to take the Best Trick crown.
Joshua is one of Singapore’s top wakeboarders and recently placed first at the Malaysian Nationals in May. He was happy with his second straight win in Best Trick. “I love wakeboarding and it’s my passion. Today I wanted to have fun, and winning was a real bonus for me.”
Women’s Novice Final
1st Padma Lau (SMU) — 34.91
2nd Fion See Toh (RP) — 34.78
3rd Sirada Pungthong (SIM) — 30.34
Men’s Novice Final
1st Vincent Widjaja (SIM) — 44.56
2nd Kenneth Teo (TP) — 40.00
3rd Reuben Thia (TP) — 39.23
Men’s Intermediate Final
1st Casey Yew (TP) — 57.91
2nd Donovan Tan (NTU) — 36.58
3rd Sherman Song (TP) — 36.35
Women’s Freeride Final
1st Denise Wong (SMU) — 36.34
2nd Jasmine Ng (SMU) — 35.23
3rd Jessica Tsang (RP) — 33.22
Men’s Freeride Final
1st Andy Huang (NUS) — 67.90
2nd Parvinder Singh (TP) — 65.22
3rd Ng Wei Teck (SIM) — 59.66
Rip Curl Mirage Board Shorts Best Trick Contest (Open)
1st Joshua Tay — Whirlybird (a heelside backflip with a backside 360)
2nd George Hartmann — Krypt (Raley with a frontside 180)
3rd Richard Raju — Frontflip
Team Overall Results
1st Temasek Polytechnic (TP) — 405 points
2nd Singapore Management University (SMU) — 400 points
3rd Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) — 340 points
2013 Rip Curl Singapore National Inter-Varsity and Polytechnic Wakeboard Championships sponsors and partners: Rip Curl (Title Sponsor), Red Bull (Official Energizing Partner), Skull Candy (Official Headphones), Forest Adventure (Event Partner), Ski360 (Event Partner), Wawawa – Bistro by the Reservoir (Official Prize Giving Venue) and PUB (Venue Sponsor).
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