Padang Padang Surf competition opens

Padang Padang, Bali: The 32 surfers invited to compete in the 2012 Rip Curl Cup Invitational at Padang Padang will gather at Bali’s most revered wave this weekend for the event’s opening ceremony.

Among the international surf stars receiving one of the coveted Padang Cup invites are Chris Ward (USA), Jamie O’Brien (Hawaii), Anthony Walsh (Australia) and Dean Morrison (Australia).

Among the 16 Indonesian surfers invited are defending champion Lee Wilson, Garut Widiarta and legendary Balinese surfer Rizal Tanjung.

The opening ceremony will be held at Padang Padang this Sunday, July 15 and marks the first day of the six-week event waiting period. The heat drawing presentation will begin promptly at 3 p.m., followed by a press conference . The evening will conclude with a traditional Balinese Kecak dance performance.

On Friday, the Rip Curl team met for a beach cleanup at Padang Padang beach at 8 a.m. The cleanup was open to anyone who wanted to join. The cleanup teams collected trash from the beach, the car park behind the beach.