Chinese media, the public and everyone viewing on the live webcast will have the opportunity to witness first-hand the abilities of World Tour veterans Chris "Wardo" Ward and Cory Lopez of Team USA, former world champ Sofia Mulanovich and wunderkind Cristobal De Col for Team Peru, and other top young talents, including Dion Atkinson for Team Australia and Dale Stapes of Team South Africa, and the reigning ISA gold medalist, Santiago Muniz (younger brother to Alejo) of Team Argentina. Many of the competitors will be competing in both the ISA and the ASP events.
"There will be two different formats that together represent the pinnacle of surfing," said Fernando Aguerre, the president of the International Surfing Association. "It's the equivalent of having both the Davis Cup and a pro tennis tournament in the same city, in the same week."
At the SportAccord Convention - which pertains to "the service of sport, focused on driving positive change internationally" - in Dubai in May 2010, Aguerre sat down to lunch with a committee representing China and shared his ideas. From that meeting, the concept of a surfing festival somewhere along China's coastline began to grow.
"The sport is really young in China," Aguerre said. "We know there are local surfers as well as some expat surfers. There are some surf shops, but we believe that by hosting this event, we will be helping fast-track surfing's growth in China -- in a sustainable way."
