Kai Otton and Miguel Pupo display perseverance in Round 2 at Quiksilver Pro France
Australia’s Kai Otton and Brazil’s Miguel Pupo successfully bounced back in their respective Round 2 heats at the Quiksilver Pro France, the seventh of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which went down
at La Graviere Hossegor, France, on Wednesday, October 3, 2012.
Otton had gotten the better of Portugal’s Tiago Pires in the 11th heat to successfully advance through into the third round of the competition, while removing the latter from the contention for the event title.
Pupo was able to prevail over America’s Damien Hobgood to secure his place in the next round, adding his rival to the elimination list in the process.
The surfing conditions prevailing at the main event site had been nothing short of demanding during the second round of the competition , making it really tough for the surfers to cut loose or put on an entertaining show for the huge crowd that was in attendance
as well as the global audience catching every second of the action through live webcast.
After a Round 1 hiccup, Otton seemed to have made up his mind to redeem himself during his Round 2 heat.
The Australian surfer adapted to the conditions on hand exceptionally well and after getting off to a solid start, he locked his first business-wave to post a massive 9.33 on the score-board.
Far from done yet, he immediately followed it up with a perfect-10 ride to get to a heat-total of 19.33 points. The mammoth-sized score would have brought the best in the business to their knees on any day.
Unfortunately for Pires, he was short on both luck and rhythm while staring at such a massive total. Looking pretty rusty during the course of the battle, he only managed to get to a heat-total of 11.50 points, which comprised of a 4.67 and 6.83-point ride.
The effort was hardly enough and therefore resulted in his elimination from the competition while sending the Australian surfer through into the next round.
The final heat of Round 2 had Pupo competing against Hobgood in a one-on-one battle for survival.
Both the surfers had seen to be struggling to find rhythm during their Round 1 heat, with the Brazilian young gun losing out to America’s Patrick Gudauskas, whereas Hobgood has succumbed to Brazil’s Jadson Andre.
Finding themselves on the edge with the pressure of elimination hanging over their heads, both of them were fully aware of just how important it was to forget the previous performance and start fresh with more confidence and the belief that they had what
it took to win.
As the battle got underway, Hobgood did not waste much time to open his account with a business-wave, though it was a mere 3.83-point ride, one that was hardly expected to hold up until the end.
He kept the momentum going by backing it up with a 4.57-point ride, thus reaching a heat-total of 8.40 points.
Pupo, on the other hand, got off to a slow start, going through a series of average wave scores. As the heat progressed, he continued to hunt for a potent scoring opportunity and even got his hands on a relatively juicy wave, which he utilised to post a
5.33 on the score-board.
He immediately followed it up with a 4.43-point ride to reach a heat-total of 9.76 points, which placed him 1.36-points ahead of his rival.
Much to his relief, the volatile lead held up until the end to eventually seal the fate of the battle in his favour, consequently sending him through into the next round.
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