Abu Dhabi: Italian twins Alice and Chiara Virag produced a stunning double performance at the 2019 IWWF World Wakeboard Championships in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old sisters from Milan were in sparkling form as they both topped their qualifying heats to book places in Friday’s Open women semi-finals at the Eastern Mangroves Promenade. If either of the twins are to go home with a gold medal, however, it may require a best ever performance from one of them, judging from the display of Australian Zahra Kell, who recorded a top score of 72.78 in the qualifying heats.
Also going through was Sanne Meijer from the Netherlands, a gold medal winner at last month’s first ever ANOC Worlds Beach Games, who says it will be much tougher to win in Abu Dhabi and had a message for young UAE wakeboarding enthusiasts.
Australian Mackenzie McCarthy and Italy’s Julia Molinari topped the junior women qualifying heats, while Swiss Deborah Lutolf and Russian Anna Maria Kushkovskaya also moved through to Saturday’s final.
German Sigrid Bachler dominated the Over 40 Veteran Women qualifiers to progress along with American Cathy Williams, Hong Kong’s Kit Sum Ruby Lee and Man Yee Fiona Chan, New Zealander Charlotte Broadbent and Japan’s Naoko Nishikado.
