Jordin Watson defeats Hiroto Arai to clinch Championship Moves Open title
After surviving a series of demanding battles, Australia’s Jordin Watson and Japan’s Hiroto Arai moved into the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 1-Star Championship Moves Open that went down at the Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, on Monday,
January 9.
The face-off between the two finalists was expected to feature a real nail-biting contest. However, it turned out to be a low-scoring affair, with Watson managing to get the better of his rival, Arai, to emerge as the event champion.
The local knowledge of the waves, combined with a huge array of skills served as a deadly combination that allowed the South Coast-based Watson to survive the early rounds of the competitions. He kept the winning momentum going during the Quarter-final and
Semi-final to eventually advance through into the Final. The shift from the Jan Juc Beach to Bells Beach had no significant affect on his performance and therefore he continued to exhibit an intimidating form.
Facing the Australian in the Final was Arai. The Japanese surfer had done extremely well to remain in contention for the event title despite pitted against a long list of local surfers who naturally carried the local knowledge of the waves and enjoyed the
crowd’s support. However, he had held his own and beaten the odds to make his place in the Final.
With four-foot waves on offer at the primary event site, the battle for the event title got underway. Both the surfers got off to a really slow start as they awaited the arrival of juicy waves. The frequency of rippable waves had decreased considerably by
the time the Final had kicked off.
A few minutes into the heat, Watson locked a mediocre wave to attempt a few series of tricks, but failed to pull them off cleanly and only managed to collect a 3.25 for the effort. Arai soon opened his account with a 2.50-point wave. This was not the sort
of start that the Japanese was hoping for as he was apparently struggled to adjust to the conditions prevailing at Bells Beach.
Watson did not seem too comfortable in the waves either, but eventually managed to add another 4.75 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 8.00 points. Despite getting opportunity to take the lead, Arai failed to capitalise on it and merely added
a 4.00 off his second business-wave to finish with a heat-total of 6.50 points. The 1.50-point deficit forced him to concede victory and thus the event title to Watson.
Winning the Championship Moves Open title was exactly the sort of beginning that Watson was hoping for. He had missed out on several competitions during the previous season due to a back injury and therefore was determined to leave his mark in competitions
this season.
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