Hiroto Arai downs Enrique Ariitu to move into Championship Moves Open Final
The crowd kept getting treated to a heavy dose of exhilarating surfing action as Japan’s Hiroto Arai took on Tahiti’s Enrique Ariitu in the second Semi-final of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Championship Moves Open that went down at Bells
Beach in Victoria, Australia, on Monday, January 9.
The face-off between the Japanese and Tahitian turned out to be a real nail-biting affair as both the surfers fought tooth and nail to make it into the Final. As the dust settled, Arai stood victorious with his life extended in the event, while Ariitu got
removed from the contention for the event title.
With the competition returning to Bells Beach from the alternative event site Jan Juc Beach, the surfers got to compete in high-performance four-foot waves in contrast to the three-foot waves that the previous rounds of the competition had taken place in.
The Japanese talent, Arai, had done exceptionally well to hold his own during the initial rounds. He was up against the local talent, who naturally enjoyed the advantage of carrying local knowledge of the waves along with the support of the local crowd behind
them. However, Arai compensated for the handicap through skills and steady drilled his way through the initial rounds to eventually move into the Semi-finals.
Facing the Japanese surfer in the second Semi-final was Ariitu, who pretty much faced the same handicap as Arai. The Tahiti-based surfer had also done extremely well to survive the initial rounds, though he had been aided by a stroke of luck along the way.
As the Semi-final battle kicked off, Ariitu got off to an impressive start. He made an early charge to score a 6.75 off his first business-wave before adding another 3.75 points to his account, taking his heat-total to 10.50 points.
Arai, on the other hand, got off to a rather slow start. However, he slowly built momentum as the heat progressed before eventually unloading a flurry of tricks on a wave, posting a 5.25 on the score-board in the process.
With only a few minutes left for the buzzer to go off, the Japanese surfer was still trailing behind Ariitu. However, a determined and desperate effort on his second business-wave allowed Arai to collect 5.75 points and thus moving to a heat-total of 11.00
points. The 0.50-point lead over his Tahitian rival got him through into the Final.
The final of the Championship Moves Open was going to take place between Arai and Australia’s Jordin Watson.
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