Adriano de Souza beats C.J. Hobgood in the third round of Men’s Billabong Rio Pro
Brazil’s Adriano de Souza managed to prevail over America’s Clifton James Hobgood in the eighth heat of Men’s Billabong Rio Pro Round 3, that went down at the break of Barra Da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday, May 19th.
The conditions at the primary event site turned out to be relatively better as compared to the previous days, which had forced the event organisers to call six consecutive lay days. With four-foot waves breaking at the beach, it was possible to return to
Barra Da Tijuca for the third round of the competition.
Facing Hobgood in the third round, De Souza went on a rampage, backed by the support of his passionate Brazilian fans. He ended up earning a final score of 15.93 after two waves to prevail over his American rival, who had seemed out of sorts throughout the
heat and ended with a score of 11.87.
Talking to the media after the heat, De Souza said, “I’m happy to move to Round 4. I can’t believe it, there is this massive crowd down on the beach and I wanted to go for it. I’m proud of myself for making that heat. C.J. (Hobgood) is a world champ and
he’s surfing amazing and he does so well in these conditions. It was an amazing feeling to get through and I’ll see how I can do in this event.”
De Souza had made his way to the third round of the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s World Tour full of confidence after an extremely impressive performance at the previous stop, where he had managed to oust season’s top seed Kelly Slater
from the competition in the quarter-finals.
Unfortunately for his fans, he had failed to show the same level of surfing on the opening day of the Men’s Billabong Rio Pro and ended up losing to Australia’s Daniel Ross. Facing his compatriot Ricardo Santos in the second round, De Souza managed to regain
his form and get a convincing victory over his rival. The same form was seen during the third round when he bested Hobgood with ease.
De Souza will now compete in the fourth round of the Men’s Billabong Rio Pro to secure a place in the quarter-final.
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