JAKARTA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh will hold an international freediving competition from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 with at least 40 athletes, an official said here on Monday.
The competition will be featured in 2017 Sail Sabang event which will gather international yachters in Balohan Bay, Sabang in Aceh province slated to begin on Nov. 26.
"Foreign athletes already registered to take part in the freediving competition are from Colombia, Australia, the Netherlands, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan, Belgium, Thailand, China, Malaysia and Singapore," Deputy Minister Domestic Tourism Development at the Tourism Ministry Esthy Reko Astuti said.
Two registered divers hold world records - William Trubridge from New Zealand and Alexey Molchanov from Russia, she added.
The competition will provide a total rewards of 200 million rupiah (about 14,700 U.S. dollars), she said.
Freediving is a sport that contending the durability of diver to dive into the deep with a single inhale without the help from scuba.
The categories are Dynamic with Fins (DYN), Constant Weight Without Fins (CNF), Dynamic Without Fins (DNF), Costant Weight (CWT), Free Immersion (FIM) and Static Apnea (STA).
Indonesia Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that Sabang Sail was designated as Indonesia's new marine tour program, highly expected to generate new cruise ship route linking Sabang with Malaysia's Langkawi and Thailand Phuket.
"Sail Sabang is part of Indonesia's accelerated marine tour program. We already have agreement with Langkawi and Phuket. Our big dream is to see triangle marine tour route in the region," the minister said.
