Gabriel Medina defeats Cory Lopez to advance to Saquarema Surf Pro International quarter-finals
The Saquarema Surf Pro International kicked off with the first heat of the round of 12 at Itauna beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Monday, May 30th. After a rather intense battle, it was Brazil’s Gabriel Medina who clinched the win to qualify
for the quarter-finals, eliminating America’s Cory Lopez from the competition in the process.
On Saturday, 12 surfers had competed in four heats of round of 12, with the winner of each heat advancing to the quarter-final stage. The second and third place finishers were left to battle it out amongst themselves for the four remaining spots in the next
stage. On Monday, the round of 12 continued, though this time the round featured eight surfers in four heats instead of 12.
The first heat of the day pitted the local surfer, Media, against the surfer from America, Lopez. Both the surfers had exhibited good form over the last few days, managing to hold their own even under tough surfing conditions.
The conditions on Monday morning were not too surfing-friendly either, with 8 to 10 foot waves, strong offshore winds and overcast weather conditions at Itauna.
The local favourite, Medina, went to work early and caught a good wave to show his skilful manoeuvres. The wave earned him an impressive 7.00 and put him in a lead. On his very next wave, he managed to come up with an even more impressive combination of
flips and turns and scored 7.50 points this time, finishing with a heat total of 14.50.
Lopez, who did not look too comfortable in the sea under such conditions, locked his first wave to score 6.00 off it. He required 8.07 off his second wave to get past Medina’s score, but only managed to get a 6.43, consequently losing by a deficit of 2.07
points.
The impressive performance and successful result confirmed Medina as the fifth surfer to qualify for the quarter-finals, while the second-place finish marked the end of the road for Lopez.
Saquarema Surf Pro International is the fourth Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event of the year and is presented by Coca Cola and Oakley.
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