Andrew Doheny and Hiroto Arai win Round 2 heats of Billabong ASP World Junior Championships
America’s Andrew Doheny defeated fellow countryman Dylan Kowalski in the 15th heat, while Japan’s Hiroto Arai prevailed over Brazil’s Lucas Silveira in the 16th heat of Billabong Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior
Championships’ Round 2 that went down at the iconic Burleigh Heads in Gold Coast, Australia, on Tuesday, January 24.
Winning their respective Round 2 heats, Doheny and Arai advanced through into the third round, while the competition to a premature end for Kowalski and Silveira.
The surfers were met with demanding surfing conditions on the latest day of the competition, with strong winds and tricky three-foot waves. The battle for survival was surely going to be a testing one for the Round 2 competitors as they had to deal with
their rival as well as nature during the man-on-man battle.
The 6th seed Doheny did well to hold his own while squaring off with Kowalski in the 15th heat. He kicked off the battle with a positive approach and seemed to be enjoying the challenge the waves offered while collecting a couple of
competitive scores to seal the deal.
“It’s a lot like onshore day at Lower Trestles out there, so I felt right at home,” Doheny said. “My favourite kind of surf is stormy stuff so I’m really stoked, these waves are really fun for me. It’s great to make it through that heat.”
Going through a series of average wave-scores, Doheny posted a 6.50 on the score-board and soon followed it up with a 6.60-point wave, finishing with a resultant heat-total of 13.10 points.
Kowalski started off strong, scoring a 6.33 off his first business-wave, but failed to back it up with another decent score, scoring a mere 3.70 off his second-best wave to finish with a heat-total of 10.03 points, 3.07 points short of his compatriot.
The next heat saw Arai put on an impressive performance to completely steal the show and successfully extend his life in the competition.
Pitted against Silveira in a battle for survival, the Japanese surfer opened up his account with an exciting 7.67-point wave. Earning 6.67 points off his second business-wave, he finished with a heat-total of 14.34 points, which eventually served to seal
the fate of the contest in his favour.
Silveira was unable to offer the slightest bit of challenge to his rival throughout the course of the man-on-man battle and only managed to score a couple of fours off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 8.70 points. As a result, it turned
out to be easy pickings for Arai, a much-needed result after a disappointing performance on day 1 of the competition.
Tags: