Kolohe Andino was hopeful of a win over Kelly Slater in opening round of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast
American professional surfer Kolohe Andino admitted that he was fancying his chances of getting the better of America’s Kelly Slater during their encounter in the Round 1 heat of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast at Snapper Rocks in Queensland, Australia, last week.
The 17-year-old Californian sensation was making his Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour debut at the opening stop of the 2012 elite tour and getting pitted against Slater, who is arguably the best surfer in the sport, was definitely not
the ideal start that he had hoped for.
However, regardless of the scales tipping heavily in the favour of his rival due to his huge array of skills and immense amount of experience, Andino believed that he had a chance of taking the win by putting on a solid performance. A lacklustre performance
by Slater was also crucial to his chances of walking away with top honours.
Much to the dismay of the ASP World Tour rookie, things did not go as he had hoped and the fate of the battle got pretty much decided in the first-five minutes.
During an exclusive interview with ESPN, Andino revealed what was going through his head before and during his face-off with the iconic surfer from Florida.
“Well, it was more like five minutes. The heat started and I thought if I surfed my very best and he had a shocker then I would have a chance,” Andino said. “But in those first five to eight minutes of the heat he got a 9.8 and an 8.9, so it was done. But
I was really excited prior to surfing against him at least once, not knowing if he is gonna do the tour for the rest of 2012.”
Even though the Californian surfer lost his first battle after stepping onto the ASP World Tour, he managed to register his first win by defeating and eliminating fellow countryman and one of his closest friend on tour Brett Simpson in the second round of
the competition to go through into Round 3.
Even though Andino only managed to get as far as the third round at the opening stop of the 2012 ASP World Tour, he is looking forward to making a much more solid impact at the second stop, Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, which is scheduled to get underway from
April 3.
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