Jadson Andre wins first round heat to advance to round three of 2011 Billabong Rio Pro
Brazil’s Jadson Andre defeated America’s Gabe Kling and Australia’s Bede Durbidge in the seventh heat of the first round of 2011 Billabong Rio Pro that went down at Arpoador in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 17.
Facing Kling and Durbidge in the seventh heat on the first day of the Men’s competition, the event’s defending champion as well as the local favourite, Andre, looked threatening while pursuing a place in the third round of the event.
Mother-nature did not show any kindness to the surfers, which caused the two foreigners to struggle throughout the heat. Andre, on the other hand, was assisted by his local knowledge to adjust to the challenging conditions and lock a couple of good waves.
Durbidge found it the hardest to cope with the relatively low 5-foot waves and was seen to struggle the course of the battle. He could only manage to earn an unimpressive score of 7.90 after two waves.
Kling seemed a bit shaky as well and was not unable to really make a solid impact in his two waves, ending the heat with an overall score of 10.66.
The heat truly belong to Andre, who seemed to be quite at ease as he found two best waves to throw down spectacular turns and other manoeuvres. His wonderful performance earned him a two wave score of 14.33, sending him off to the third round directly.
Talking to the media, Andre said, “I know everyone says I should feel pressure as defending champion, but I'm not worried about it. I'm just thinking about the next heat. That's what I did last year.”
Third stop of 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s World Tour, Billabong Rio Pro has gathered the top surfers from all over the world at Rio De Janeiro for what was expected to be an epic showdown. The event was scheduled to start from May 11, but due to the challenging conditions that prevailed over the primary event site, Barra Da Tijuca, the event organisers were forced to delay the event. After six lay-days, the conditions improved to an extent that allowed the contest to get underway, though the surfers were still met by rather poor waves.
Andre may have gotten off to a good start, but whether he is able to maintain the momentum in the next few days is yet to be seen.
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