The Spearfishing Mares team has been growing and it is now represented by some of the most famours world atlete like Joseba Kerejeta that won the WC in Venezuela in 2008. We are glad to present you here the Mares Team Athletes that will attend the World Championship and will fight to gain this ambitious title …

Good luck guys and … may the best win!

MARES ATHLETES ATTENDING THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Luca Limongi, development manager for the spearfishing and freediving sector, explains why Mares is the sponsor of the World Championships that will be held in Losinj, Croatia from 14 – 19 September.

INTERVIEW TO LUCA LIMONGI

Salvo Rubera from Apnea Magazine interview Nikos Kambanis, Captain of the Greece National Team

INTERVIEW TO GREECE NATIONAL TEAM

In recent years the Turkish team has turned up at international events with different names on the roster every time.  In Venezuela they brought Hakan Gencer and Selim Konya, winners of the national team championship with Gokceada Spor Klubu and, respectively, third and second in the individual; Volkan Demircioðlu joined them, but their results weren't exactly flattering, and the Turkish athletes were relegated to the bottom of the standings. In the Euro-African Championship, the team focused on athletes who had proven themselves in the last national championship: Ahmet Tekin, who won the title, Hasan Salbas, third, and Recep Aslan, fourth.

Sadly, things did not go terribly well in Algeria either, and the Turkish Federation decided to drastically overhaul the national competitive system, shifting from a single competition over two days, similar to the Italian absolute competition, to a circuit of events distributed over four regional trials and a final competition.

The country of South Africa boasts over 3500 km of coastline along two oceans: the Atlantic to the West and the Indian to the east. In terms of spearfishing, the waters to the west are cold and cloudy, with a huge number of fish in few varieties, as well as a significant presence of white sharks; as a result, almost all spearfishing is done along the southern and eastern shores.

To the south, from Cape Town to East London, for nearly 1000 km, the waters are warm, from 15° to 20°, and in addition to species common in the Mediterranean (amberjacks, leerfish, bluefish, brown groupers, white and zebra seabreams, shi drums, and meagres), divers also encounter species native to this region.  Further to the north, temperatures begin to rise thanks to the tropical waters coming from Mozambique; divers can find everything in these waters. Mediterranean species are joined by tropical species, from tropical groupers to Marlins; specimens of the latter have been caught weighing more than 200 kg.

The National Championship is obviously the most important competition, and is organized into two separate events held with a rest day in between. The first is the Individuals, which determines the national championship, and is generally held on two consecutive days along a section of shoreline ranging from 5 to 10 km long. There are no qualifiers, so all athletes can take part; the organizing committee can however exclude some participants if necessary to keep the number of athletes within safe limits.  Also for safety reasons, although it's an individual competition, athletes fish in pairs, and minimum visibility in the water cannot be lower than 5 m because sharks are present in these waters.

The second event is a team competition involving all the South African provinces, which are comparable to the different regions of Italy, and this event stretches over two days as well.

In South Africa a total of ten different prey are permitted for fishing, with no upper weight limit, only a minimum weight limit. In addition, to increase the level of difficulty, during competition athletes may catch only one specimen in each species.

The World Championship team has already been decided!After the qualifiers held last year, the technical commissioner Jani Longo selected Dusan Krajnik, Moreno Matijasic, and Robert Podgorsek. Robert Ukmar will be the alternate, and the prestigious role of captain falls to me.

Robert Podgorsek and Moreno Matijasic are undoubtedly the two athletes who know the seafloor around Losinj the best. Dusan Krajnik will compete with them. He is the "oldest" member of the team, but he is in excellent physical condition and has vast experience in deep and hole fishing.  It will be Robert Ukmar's first experience at a world event. He is a very strong fisherman along the coast, which, given the period in which the competition will be held, should not be underestimated.

The strategy for all of us during the championship is very simple: catch the most fish of different species and 10 conger eels each! In terms of the seabeds at Unije and Punta Kriza, our athletes know them well, considering that every year competitions are held in the area and about 90% of our fishing trips are held in that stretch of water.

We'll organize a few recces in June and September to scout out the fish and the holes; the first 5/7 nationally ranked athletes will be involved. Given how close Croatia and Slovenia are (ed: the countries share a border), we'll go have a look nearly every weekend.  In that area the most common prey are wrasses, meagres, seabreams, and of course conger eels; less commonly, and at more demanding depths, you can catch a few groupers.

Without doubt, the most difficult competition area is Punta Kriza, where fishing will be between 15 and 25 meters, and maybe even deeper. The seabeds at the island of Unije vary from shallows to walls that drop down more than 30 meters. We know the area fairly well but the sea is always an unknown; one day you might see a ton of fish, and the next day there's nothing there.

A lot will depend on the weather conditions. The first disturbances come along in September, and you can never know what influence they will have on how the fish behave, given that the sirocco and bora winds can easily ramp up to 30 knots and cause big problems; we're hoping for good weather. Large schools of mullets will arrive during that period, but focusing on free fishing could be a bit of a lottery; in fact the most common prey will be conger eels, meagres, seabreams, wrasses, and scorpion fish.

The backup field is another story entirely: it's certainly the worst field chosen for the World Championship. If we end up competing in that area, the people who can fish the deepest will bring in the biggest haul.  A lot of athletes will arrive in Losinj as early as August, but the Croats are still the favorites – they held their national championship there last year.
In any case we hope that everything goes well and that it will be a celebration for our sport. May the best athlete win!

Probably a decade or so behind Europe, freediving is the fastest immerging sport in the dive sector for the US. The constant need for selective fishing practices with little to no bi-catch has shed a positive outlook to the future of spearfishing. The quality of spearfishing and freediving equipment has helped progress the sport to a level where divers are diving deeper and bagging great fish.

 There is only one national competition every year, but since the US is so large, there are several local and regional qualifiers for the Nationals. It is always hard to predict who will be on the U.S.A. Worlds Spearfishing Team, let alone stand a chance against the rest of the world. There are several outstanding spearfishermen in the US, but it takes a different class of speros to be good, at both spearfishing and competition diving. The USA Worlds Team is selected by choosing the top three competitors in two consecutive National competitions. After hundreds of competitors took a shot in the East coast, then West coast U.S. Nationals, four fortunate and talented divers secured their spot on the U.S.A. International Team. Justin Allen, Dan Silveira, Sean Moreschi, and Alternate John Modica became the youngest team to ever achieve this undertaking. (Each 25 years old or younger) The 2010 CMAS world spearfishing competition will be held from September 14^th – 19^th in Mali Losinj, Croatia.

Diving in the US still offers virgin territories and abundant fish in shallow water. There is a vast amount of water to explore with varied species of fish and terrain. We can hunt in the cold murky waters of California where we dive in the kelp, looking into deep cracks and holes with a flashlight and small gun to bag codfish, or we can escape to the clear waters of Florida to shoot grouper in deep water with the ever present sharks. From 3mm to 7mm wetsuits, and from small fish to big fish, the US is a host of great diving where fish are fairly shallow and curious. While the outcome of bagging large fish with ease is a blessing, it is also a curse. It is going to be a challenge for us to dive deep in the clear waters of the Adriatic Sea. The fish in the US are easy to spear and do not require much skill. Croatia on the other hand will be tough. The fish are deep, smart and limited in quantities. Knowing our pitfall, Team USA started training for deep diving and extended bottom time with frediving world record holder Martin Stepanek.

The progression from tournament spearfishing to studying the honed theory of professional freediving brings a whole new dimension to my world underwater. I have grown up a spearfisherman for most of my life giving me approximately two decades of water time. During the last five years, I have traveled to several top spearfishing locations around the globe and succumbing the realization that there are hundreds of gifted spearfisherman. Questions boggled my mind as to how they became so good and my verdict was that they not only had natural hunter instincts but also great freediving abilities.

Best of luck to everyone guys!

Is spearfishing a popular sport in you country?

No, it is not a popular sport like soccer and tennis, but in the northern part of Chile there are a lot of divers that work in the fishing industry who use spearguns and an apnea system. Two of our team members are professional spearfishers who earn their living in the sea.

Who is on your national team?

Emiliano Orellana (TEAM CAPTAIN), Max Grez, Miguel Soto, Jorge Galanaquis, Jorge Zepeda.

Who is the official reserve on your team?

We aren't sure who will be the official reserve yet.

When will your team arrive in Mali Lossinj?

We will arrive on August 30th.

What are your expectations and goals for the competition?

Our expectations are that all team members will place in the top 10 and that one of us will be on the podium, we know this is very hard but we are going to try our best!

In your opinion who is going to win the individual competition? What about the team rankings?

I think that the individual title will be in Santi Lopez or Daniel Gospic; about team ranking first Spain, second Croatia, Italy or Greece or may be Chile for third.

How popular is spearfishing  in your country?

Spearfishing is very popular in Russia but most of all in sweet water. The Black sea is not very rich of fish and the others seas are very cold and far from Central Russia.

How many National competitions are every year?

We have 6 official National competitions this year.

Which are the most important competitons?

Russian cups and Russian Championship are the most important.

How many athletes take part in the National Championship?

In national championship 30-40 athletes take part.

Who won the last National Championship?

The last National championship the leader of the National team (the best athlete) Mikhail Kuznetcov, won.

Who are the components of the National team?

Pavel Antonov - captain, Mikhail Kuznetcov and Alexander Utkin are athletes and 1 more athlete will be selected in Croatia.

Will you have, or have you had, any inspection in Mali Losinj?

No

Is Spearfishing popular in your country?

Spearfishing is very popular in Italy, there are around 100.000 practising and 1.000 Athletes registered to the Italian Federation. 

Who are the official team members?

The official team members are: Massimiliano Barteloni, Stefano ellani and Bruno De Silvestri; the official reserve is Nicola Smeraldi; Concetto felice and Franco Villani will have the role of “second reserve”.

When will the Italian National team arrive in Lussino?

The Italian national team will arrive in Lussino on September 1^st.

What are your expectations and goals for the competition?

The Italian national team point to get the team qualification but also on an individual point of view we are expecting good results from all team components.

 In your opinion who is going to win the individual competition?

The favourite team is the Spanish team, even if the local national team is very strong and can rely on a deep knowledge of the area.

Could you tell us how your preparations for the World Championship on Mali Lošinj are progressing?  

Berteloni: I hope that I'm going to win a medal now that I'm here, in Lošinj.

Ballani: The preparations are going well, the weather is fine and the logistics are excellent. The accommodation is super and we thank Mr. Zorović for everything.

What are your personal expectations? Are you hoping for a medal?

Barteloni: I also hope that my team is going to try hard and that it will do its very best in this Championship.

Ballani: We hope that we'll do well as a team. We can't compare ourselves to Gospić who knows the terrain and thus has the advantage. I hope that I'll come, at least, third.

Who are the favourites in the upcoming competition?

Barteloni: The favourites in this Championship are the Croats and then the Spanish.

Ballani: The favourites are Gospić and Kerejet.

Have you ever before been diving in the Adriatic, that to say, in the waters around Lošinj?

Barteloni: My only experience of the Adriatic was in Rovinj.

Ballani: Two years ago, I took part in a competition in Rovinj so I have already fished in the Adriatic Sea.