JAKARTA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Eight Indonesian surfers have been shortlisted to take on their international rivals from the U.S. state of Hawaii, South Africa and Australia in 2019 Rip Curl Cup international surfing championship that offers total rewards of 2,000 U.S. dollars in Bali's Padang Padang Beach this month.
Announcement of surfers qualified to take part in the annual surfing competition was made in the opening session held in Bali's Padang Padang Beach on Sunday.
The Indonesian surfers picked to vie in the month-long competition are Made Adi Putra, Koki Hendrawan, Mustofa Jeksen, Raditya Rondi, Mega Semadhi, Agus Setiawan, Agus Sumertayasa and Garut Widiarta.
Two of those Indonesian surfers, Mega Semadhi and Garut Widhiarta, had previously won the competition. Meanwhile the remaining ones were qualified from the trial events held at the beach since mid last month.
"Padang Padang is one of Indonesian beaches with incredible tube waves. It is going to be a perfect opportunity to vie against world's best surfers in this competition," Semadhi said on the sidelines of the announcement.
International surfers in the annual Rip Curl Cup this year were exclusively chosen by World Surf League (WSL) three-time champion Mike Fanning.
Besides the defending champion Jack Robinson from Australia, the other shortlisted foreign surfers were Benji Brand from South Africa, Kai Otton, Taj Burrow and Matt Wilkinson from Australia, Mason Ho, Barron Mamiya and Sheldon Paishon from Hawaii.
All of those 16 surfers are obliged to standby during the waiting period throughout this month to demonstrate their surfing skills in the beach.
