SKOPJE, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The lake city of Ohrid, southwest of North Macedonia, will host the 2019 Open Water Cup on Sunday.
The event is organized by the European Swimming League, known as Ligue Europeenne de Natation (LEN) in cooperation with the North Macedonian Swimming Federation, Aleksandar Malenko, President of the Federation said at a press conference.
"As of this year," Malenko declared, "North Macedonia is an official part of the European Cup, competing with 53 countries and regions in the European Swimming Federation."
Twenty male and seven female swimmers from nine European countries and regions will compete in the 10 kilometers LEN Open Water Cup in Lake Ohrid.
According to Malenko, in the next five years North Macedonia will be part of the five qualifying legs that are also held in Israel, France, Spain and Denmark.
The swimming race will start at 12 pm local time Sunday and the reward for the best-ranked swimmers (male and female) will be 2,500 euros (about U.S. 2,773 dollars) for first place, 1,500 euros for second and 1,000 euros for the third place.
Lake Ohrid is the deepest lake of the Balkans, with a maximum depth of 288 meters. It is 30.4 km long by 14.8 km wide at its maximum extent with a shoreline length of 87.53 km, shared between North Macedonia and Albania.
