Dion Atkinson and Glenn Hall power into Hainan Classic Semi-finals
Australia’s Dion Atkinson defeated Japan’s Masatoshi Ohno in the first Quarter-final, while Ireland’s Glenn Hall prevailed over Brazil’s Tomas Hermes in the second Quarter-final of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Hainan Classic at Riyue
Bay in Wanning, China, on Friday, January 13, to advance through into the Semi-finals.
The third day of the competition received blessings from Mother Nature in form of four-to-six foot waves, which pretty much laid down the platform for the surfers to put on exhilarating performances to get themselves into the final stages of the inaugural
ASP event in China.
The first Quarter-final pitted an in-form Atkinson against Ohno in a battle for the Semi-final slot. Both the surfers had been nothing short of impressive in the previous rounds, though Atkinson unarguably enjoyed an advantage over his Japanese rival in
terms of confidence. Ohno had managed to stay alive in the competition by securing runner-up place on a number of occasions, while Atkinson had confidently made his way from one round to another by collecting victories.
With all his countrymen eliminated from the competition, Atkinson further shouldered the responsibility of being the sole representative of Australia. Even though he was the first Australian to get ejected during the International Surfing Association (ISA)
China Cup earlier this month, he now had the chance to redeem himself.
As the first Quarter-final got underway, Atkinson got down to business right away, drawing first blood with a 6.17-point wave. He immediately followed it up with an impressive 7.00-point wave to get to a heat-total of 13.17 points.
Ohno, on the other hand, got off to an average start, collecting a 5.93 off his first business-wave. Despite a lengthy and determined search for a competitive score, the Japanese was only able to add an additional 6.90 to his account, thus moving to a heat-total
of 12.83 points. Finishing in a 0.34-point deficit, Ohno was forced to concede victory and thus the Semi-final spot to Atkinson.
The second Quarter-final saw Hall take on Hermes in a man-on-man battle. Both the surfers had done well to get this far, but the time had come for one of them to make his exit from the competition.
As the battle kicked off, Hall got off to a solid start, locking a wave in the opening minutes of the heat to unload a series of exquisite manoeuvres and getting an 8.17 for the effort. Hermes soon locked his first business-wave to challenge his Irish competitor
with a 7.67-point wave, keeping the heat very much alive.
In the final minutes of the heat, Hermes added a 6.93 to his account to move to a heat-total of 14.60 points. He got to enjoy the lead for only a little while as Hall utilised his second business-wave to post a 7.10 on the score-board, taking his heat-total
to 15.27 points and thus sealing the fate of the second Quarter-final in his favour.
The inaugural ASP 4-Star Hainan Classic is the second event of the Hainan Wanning Riyue Bay International Surfing Festival Presented by Quiksilver.
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