Kai Otton and Miguel Pupo make the Round 3 cut at Oakley Pro Bali – Surfing news
Australia’s Kai Otton and Brazil’s Miguel Pupo walked away with successful results from their respective Round 2heats of the Oakley Pro Bali, fifth of ten stops on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which continued
at Keramas in Bali, Indonesia, on Wednesday, June 19, 2013.
Otton got the better of Brazil’s Alejo Muniz in the ninth heat of Round 2 to earn his place in Round 3, while removing his rival from the contention for the event title.
Brazil’s Miguel Pupo was also able to extend his life in the competition by finishing on top of Australia’s Bede Durbidge in heat 10, thus bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The presence of clean four-to-six foot waves at the main event venue had ensured that there was hardly a dull moment as the surfers who failed to clinch desirable results in Round 1 looked to make amends in Round 2. With the pressure of elimination hanging
over their heads, they were expected to really push themselves to try and get a favourable result.
Locking horns against each other in the ninth heat of Round 2, both Otton and Muniz had their sight set on the Round 3 spot.
As the battle kicked-off, Muniz got off to a slow start and managing to score a modest 5.00 off his first business-wave. That, however, remained his best single-wave score of the heat, as his second-best wave score was a mere 3.17, which took him to a heat-total
of 8.17 points.
Otton, on the other hand, exhibited a much more solid form than the one that he had display on day 1 of the competition. Determined to bounce back from a dismal start at Bali, the Australian surfer held nothing back as he took own a shaky Muniz in his latest
heat. Collecting a 7.57 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 7.33-point ride later in the heat, Otton found himself sitting at a heat-total of 14.90 points once the buzzer signalling the conclusion of the battle sounded off.
A lead of 6.73 points over Muniz earned him a comfortable win and carried him through into the next round.
The next heat featured Pupo engaged in a battle for survival against Durbidge.
With the pressure of eliminating hanging over their heads, both the surfers were expected to push themselves hard to increase their chances of walking away with the win.
Their determination and desperation was quite evident during the 30-minute heat. Pupo had managed to get himself into a favourable position early in the heat with an 8.17-point ride, but Durbidge had managed to go past him with a couple of scores in the
six-point range that took him to a heat-total of 12.70 points.
The Brazilian surfer, however, managed to bounce back in the final minutes of the heat with a 4.60-point ride, which consequently led him to finish a mere 0.07 points ahead of his rival and thus clinch the win.
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