Latvian Wakeboarder Roberts Liņavskis Reaches Semifinals at the World Games in China

The wakeboarding competition behind boat at the World Games taking place in Chengdu, China from August 6 to 17 has concluded. Latvian rider Roberts Liņavskis started his participation with a convincing start, immediately qualifying for the semi-finals, leaving athletes from Germany and China behind him. In his semi-final run, Liņavskis had a great run, but it was not enough to beat wakeboarding legends Massi Pifaretti from Italy and Shota Tezuka from Japan.

These were Liņavskis' third World Games – in Poland in 2017, in the USA in 2022 and this year in China. He qualified for the Games last year by winning the Masters group (30+) of the World Championship held in China.

The competition was won by Australia's Noah Bollard, who with difficulty qualified through the 'last chance' race. However, his performance was outstanding in the aftermath, securing the gold medal. In the women's group, the victory was celebrated by the home rider Hu Lu, leaving behind athletes from Italy and Argentina.

The World Games are a sports forum that was first held in the USA in 1981, covering sports and sports disciplines that are not yet included in the Olympic Games program. More than 5,000 athletes from 118 countries were competing in 34 sports at the 2025 Games.

Latvia was represented by 45 athletes at this event - a men's floorball team, women's and men's disc golf teams, two aerial sports representatives, three dance pairs, one wakeboarder and four orienteers.

Official competition website: www.theworldgames.org