Andino, Wilson and Wilkinson survive Round 2 of Volcom Fiji Pro – Surfing news
America’s Kolohe Andino, Australia’s Julian Wilson and his fellow countryperson Matt Wilkinson walked away victorious from their respective Round 2 heats at Volcom Fiji Pro, the fourth of ten stops on the 2013 Association of Surfing
Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which continued at the alternate venue of Restaurants in Tavarua, Fiji, on Thursday, June 6, 2013.
The successful result in Round 2 carried the surfers into the third round, while bringing the competition to a premature end.
The barrelling four-to-six foot conditions prevailing at the secondary event site of Restaurants set up a nice and exciting stage for the world’s best to take each other on in man-on-man battles for survival.
Failing to make much of an impact in his Round 1 heat, Andino found himself pitted against Brazilian sensation Gabriel Medina in the seventh heat of Round 2, with the pressure of elimination hanging over their heads.
Neither of the two surfers looked very comfortable during the course of the heat, as there were not too many potential scoring opportunities on offer.
The 19-year-old American, however, managed to find a 6.67 and 4.83-point ride to get to a heat-total of 11.50 points, which allowed him to claim victory over Medina, who registered a heat-total of 9.67 points.
“Going in to that heat I thought I’d have to get some deep barrels with Medina being goofy-foot,” Andino said after his hard-fought win. “I figured I’d had to have heat of my life out there to get through that heat, but after my
fifth wave, I realized I wasn’t going to get the barrels I was looking for. I decided to just do turns on my backhand and try and get scores. Luckily it worked.”
The eighth heat saw another Brazilian get eliminated from the competition, this time Alejo Muniz failing to hold his own against Wilson.
The Australian surfer put on an impressive show, scoring a 7.33 and 6.60 off his best-two waves to register a heat-total of 13.93 points.
Muniz got off to a decent start himself, scoring a 6.87 off his first business-wave, but he failed to back it up with an adequate score. Managing to add a mere 2.17 to his account, the Brazilian surfer only managed to reach a heat-total
of 9.04 points, thus getting forced to surrender victory and thus the Round 3 spot to his rival.
Wilkinson took on French Polynesia’s Michel Bourez in the ninth heat, with both the seemingly equally determined to extend their life in the event.
As the heat got underway, the Australian surfer wasted very little time to stamp his authority over his rival, courtesy of an 8.07 off his first business-wave. He later added an additional 7.50 points to his account, thus moving
to a heat-total of 15.57 points.
Bourez responded to his rival’s impressive performance with a dismal heat-total of 10.33 points, which comprised of a 5.50 and 4.83-point ride. The inadequate effort resulted in his defeat and consequently elimination from the
competition.
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