Filipe Toledo and Keanu Asing storm into Round 3 of Billabong ASP World Junior Championships
Brazil’s Filipe Toledo and Hawaii’s Keanu Asing walked away with top honours in their respective heats during Round 1 of Billabong Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior Championships Gold Coast that went down at Burleigh Heads in Gold Coast,
Australia, on Saturday, January 21.
A dominant victory in the third heat carried Toledo directly into Round 3, while America’s Evan Thompson finished in runner-up place to get relegated to Round 2. France’s William Aliotti also moved into the relegation round after finishing in third place.
Asing advanced through straight into the third round after claiming top honours in the fourth heat, whereas Tahiti’s Mateia Hiquily and South Africa’s David Van Zyl were forced to face a trip to the relegation round after rounding out the second and third
place respectively.
The opening day of the event received blessings from Mother Nature in form of two-to-three foot waves and a sunny weather, setting the stage for a series of intense battles.
Toledo, current No.7 in the ASP Men’s World Junior Rankings, made use of the favourable surfing conditions at hand to dominate his competitors during the third heat. Scoring a 7.17 off his first business-wave, he took a huge advantage over his rivals and
immediately extended the lead even further by scoring an impressive 8.67 off his second business-wave, eventually finishing with a decisive heat-total of 15.84 points.
Thompson and Aliotti struggled to find decent scores during the entirety of the three-man battle, clearly misreading the conditions. Scoring a 3.47 and 4.50 off his best-two waves, the former finished in second place whereas the latter finished with a heat-total
of 7.60 points to round out the bottom position.
The action continued at Burleigh Heads as the event moved on to the fourth heat, featuring a three-man battle between Asing, Hiquily and Van Zyl.
Asing got off to a solid start, locking a wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post a 6.67 on the score-board. After conducting a lengthy search for another competitive score, he eventually managed to add another 7.23 points to his account in the dying
minutes of the heat, thus finishing with a heat-total of 13.90 points.
Getting a wildcard entry into the event, Hiquily was determined to make the most of the opportunity. He remained quite busy during the heat, catching wave after wave to find a good score. Despite the persistence and commendable effort, he finished behind
Asing with a heat-total of 11.64 points, which comprised of a 6.67 and 4.97-point wave.
Van Zyl evidently struggled to read the waves, thus failing to find a single competitive score. He finished with a heat-total of 7.17 points after getting a 3.50 and 3.67 off his best-two waves.
The Billabong ASP World Junior Championships Gold Coast is the third and final stop of ASP World Junior Tour 2011 and is the event that will decide who gets to take home the men and women’s World Junior Title.
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