Source: Ecuadorian Surfing Federation– www.fesurf.org

Ecuador is the organizing country of the next Bolivarian Games and, as such, aims to win the competition.  With this goal in mind, the team to compete against Venezuela, Peru and Panama has been selected.

In the Open division those that will compete for the podium are Adrián Dapelo of Costa Club, Marcos Goncalvez from Playas, Sebastián Santos of Salinas Club and the 2001 Bolivarian Champion, Felipe Rodriguez from Costa Club.  The last two have already sealed the right to represent Ecuador when they won the qualifying trials carried out in October 10 to 12.

In the Junior Under-18 category, all eyes are placed on Jonathan “El Gato” Zambrano Chila from Playas, Jimmy Guzman from Costa Club, that are in the team due to ranking merits, and the two winners of the qualifying trial, David Villarroel from Manta and Enzo Dapelo from Costa Club.

International athlete Dominic Barona and Cristina Vargas will be in charge of defending the country in the Women’s division.  Both belong to the Montañita Club.  The Longboarders will be Leo Merchán de Canoa and Isidro Villao from Montañita.  The Ecuadorian bodyboarders will be Johnny and Adrián Alcívar, both from the Manabi Province. 

The national team will start working immediately under the coaching of Professor Roberto Lynch, after yielding the respective physical tests in the high-performance Olympic Center located in Duran.  After this, they will be concentrated in Salinas waiting for the beginning of the Games.

The Ecuadorian Surfing Federation together with the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee is giving the finishing touches to the organization of the event.  The Bolivarian Games will be held in the Salinas sub-seed, FAE Beach, during November 20, 21 and 22, 2009.  The competition format will have repercharge, judging software will be used as well as the presence of international judges from each participant nation.