Keanu Asing moves into the third round of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime – Surfing News
Keanu Asing from Hawaii confirmed his place in the third round (No-Loser Round of 24) at the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime presented by Coca-Cola after walking away with top honours from the 11th heat of Round 2 (Round of 48) that went down at the
main event site of Itauna Beach in Saquarema, Brazil, on Wednesday, May 23.
Brazil’s Leonardo Neves managed to secure runner-up place, thus accompanying Asing into the next round of the competition. His compatriots Thiago Camarao and Heitor Alves were forced to settle for third and fourth place respectively, consequently getting
forced to step out of the contention for the event title prematurely.
The second day of the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME event saw glassy four-to-six foot waves gracing the primary event site, promising a series of exquisite performances throughout the day, much to the delight of the huge crowd that
had shown up at the beach. The top surfing talent had little reason to hold back during their battles as they had their sights set on the event title, along with a share of the $US 250,000 prize purse and up to 850 ASP ranking points that were up for grabs.
The 11th heat of Round 2 saw Asing squaring off with Neves, Camarao and Alves in a four-man battle for the Round 3 spot.
As the heat got underway, Asing wasted very little time to put his competitors under pressure. Locking his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat, the Hawaiian surfer pulled off a flurry of quick turns to collect a 6.17 for the effort. After
a long and determined search, Asing caught another juicy left-hander in the dying minutes of the heat to add an additional 7.17 to his account, thus moving to a heat-total of 13.34 points. The score served to seal the outcome of the battle in his favour.
Neves successfully made the Round 2 cut as well after scoring a 6.10 and 4.73 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 10.83 points, which proved sufficient to put him in runner-up place.
Scoring a 5.83 and 4.73 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 10.56 points, Camarao finished in third place, whereas Alves had to settle for fourth place with a two-wave total of 8.37 points. The bottom-two finish led to the ejection of both the surfers
from the contention for the event title.
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