Dean Bowen and Mateia Hiquily bounce back in Round 2 of Billabong ASP World Junior Championships
Australia’s Dean Bowen and Tahiti’s Mateia Hiquily recovered from an early hiccup at Billabong Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior Championships by walking away with top honours from their respective Round 2 heats that went down at the
iconic Burleigh Heads in Gold Coast, Australia, on Monday, January 23.
With his win in the fifth heat, Bowen advanced through into the third round while removing his fellow countryman Mitchell Parkinson from the contention for the event title.
The sixth heat saw Australia’s Creed McTaggart make an early exit from the competition after tasting defeat at the hands of Hiquily.
The conditions prevailing at Burleigh Head had continued to deteriorate since the start of the competition and had come down to tricky two-foot waves by Monday morning. There were still good waves on offer, though a lot depended on the surfer’s quick detection
or else lose it to his rival.
As the fifth heat got underway, both Bowen and Parkinson entered the battlefield with a positive mindset. Both the surfers warmed up to the wave almost immediately and began to collect competitive scores.
While Parkinson opened up his account with a 5.33-point wave, Bowen immediately responded by locking a wave to unload a series of exquisite tricks, posting a 7.33 on the scoreboard to take the lead.
Parkinson added another 5.27 points to his account, taking a rather volatile lead. As expected, Bowen reclaimed the lead once again with an impressive 7.67-point wave to move to a heat-total of 15.00 points. The score remained unbeaten until the end, thus
carrying him off to victory while sending Parkinson packing.
The sixth heat saw Hiquily and McTaggart take each other on in a battle for survival. Both the surfers had failed to make much of an impact on the first day of the competition and were expected to hold nothing back during their Round 2 heat.
As the showdown kicked off, McTaggart took an early lead with a 5.93-point wave. Hiquily failed to find an adequate response, managing to post a mere 4.23 on the score-board to trail behind his Australian rival.
As the heat progressed, the Tahiti-native, Hiquily, locked a wave to pull off string of quick and clean manoeuvres, earning 8.00 points for the effort and thus moving to a heat-total of 12.23 points. McTaggart had an opportunity to take the win, but he failed
to capitalise on it and only managed to add another 5.83 points to his account, thus finishing 0.47 short of Hiquily.
The Billabong ASP World Junior Championships Gold Coast in the third and final event of ASP World Junior Tour and will determine the men’s and women’s 2011 ASP World Junior Champion.
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