Joel Parkinson and Adriano de Souza enter the semi-finals at 2012 Hurley Pro
Australia’s Joel Parkinson and Brazil’s Adriano de Souza successfully made their way through into the semi-finals at the 2012 Hurley Pro, sixth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, after walking away
with top honours from their respective quarter-final heats that went down at the high-performance Lower Trestles in California, America, on Thursday, September 20.
Parkinson secured his place in the next stage of the competition after getting the better of South Africa’s Jordy Smith in the third quarter-final, consequently bringing an impressive run of his rival to an end.
The fourth quarter-final saw Hawaii’s John John Florence failing to keep De Souza from getting his hands on victory, getting eliminated from the competition while sending the rival into the next stage of the competition.
There was plenty of thrilling action in store for the huge crowd in attendance as well as the global audience following the event through live webcast as the competition field came down to the crucial stages with only the most in-form surfers remaining in
contention. The clean three-to-five foot waves arriving at the event site served as a perfect canvas for the surfers to paint with their exquisite performances.
The third quarter-final had placed Parkinson against Smith in a one-on-one battle for the semi-final spot. There was much at stake and thus neither of the two surfers was expected to go down easily.
As the heat got underway, it became evident that both the surfers were looking to settle for nothing less than a win.
Parkinson opened his account with an excellent 9.33-point ride, taking the lead in the opening minutes of the heat, but Smith managed to remain within a threatening proximity through an 8.87 off his first business-wave.
As the heat progressed, the Australian surfer added another 7.83 points to his account, taking his heat-total to 17.16 points.
With only a few minutes left in the heat, Smith locked a juicy wave and unloaded a series of exciting turns, but only managed to earn 8.17 points for the effort, thus finishing with a heat-total of 17.04 points, 0.12 points short of the required score. As
a result, he had no choice but to concede victory to his rival.
The battle for the last remaining spot in the semi-final took place between De Souza and Florence. It turned out to be a thrilling battle, with both the surfers struggling to get their hands on a big score.
Once the dust settled, however, De Souza stood victorious with a two-wave total of 12.60 points against his rival’s 11.60, consequently advancing to the next stage of the competition.
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