Gabriel Medina downs Taj Burrow to qualify for Volcom Fiji Pro semi-finals
Brazil’s Gabriel Medina took a convincing victory over Australia’s Taj Burrow in the second Quarter-final at Volcom Fiji Pro that continued at the primary event site of Cloudbreak in Tavarua, Fiji, on Sunday, June 10.
Owing to his winning performance in the quarter-finals, Medina advanced through into the semi-finals while removing Burrow from the contention for the event tile at the fourth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship
Tour.
“The wind is picking up but there are still some really good waves out there,” Medina said. “It hasn’t been the best start for me this year on the WCT so I’m very happy to be in the Semi-finals. I love the waves here in Fiji and I hope we get to finish in
good surf.”
With four-to-six foot waves prevailing at the primary event site, Cloudbreak promised to deliver a heavy dose of gripping action. The swell was not as massive as the one that the surfing elite had got to surf in on Friday, but there was still plenty of juice
in the waves to act as an ideal canvas for the surfers to put on thrilling performance and collect big scores. With the wind picking up during the afternoon, the challenge was there to put the skills and experience of surfers to test. The crowd expected the
battles to be intense with plenty of thrilling performances.
The second Quarter-final saw Burrow square-off with Medina in a man-on-man battle for the semi-finals. The Australian phenom had been struggling to find consistency, whereas his young Brazilian rival had really opened up at the open ocean reef pass in Fiji
and put on some memorable performances.
As the second Quarter-final got underway, both the surfers got off to a modest start. Almost halfway through the heat, Medina locked his first business-wave to post a 7.00 on the score-board. However, Burrow responded strongly and moved into the lead with
a 7.03-point ride.
Medina moved back into the lead after managing to score a 6.60 off his second business-wave. Burrow continued to desperately search for an adequate response, but only managed to score a 3.43 off his second business-wave, consequently finishing with a heat-total
of 10.46 points. As a result, he ended up succumbing to Medina, sending the young sensation into the next stage of the competition.
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