Medi Veminardi and Jack Freestone enter Billabong ASP World Junior Championships Quarter-finals
Reunion Island’s Medi Veminardi defeated French Polynesia’s Mateia Hiquily in the opening heat, while Australia’s Jack Freestone got the better of Japan’s Arashi Kato in the second heat of Billabong Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior
Championships’ Round 4 that got underway at the iconic Burleigh Heads in Gold Coast, Australia, on Friday, January 27.
The victory in the first heat of the latest round carried Veminardi into the Quarter-finals, while bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival, Hiquily, who put on a rather disappointing performance.
The second heat turned out to be a much more exciting contest as Freestone and Kato battled tooth and nail for survival. In the end, however, the crucial victory by the Australian led to the elimination of Kato from the competition.
As the first heat of the day kicked off, Veminardi and Hiquily kicked off the battle for survival with determination. The latter, however, was apparently having a difficult time out in the sea as he struggled to catch waves and pull off his tricks cleanly.
It seemed as if the stormy conditions at the primary event site were getting the better of him. Despite immense effort, he was forced to settle for a heat-total of 7.67 points, which comprised of a 3.50 and 4.17-point wave.
Veminardi, on the other hand, showed few signs of discomfort while surfing in pretty demanding conditions. Scoring a 6.00 off his first business-wave, the Reunion Island-based surfer went on to back it up with a 6.50-point wave, thus finishing with a heat-total
of 12.50 points. The effort was indeed a notable one, taking into account the difficulty to catch and control stormy waves.
Talking to a reporter after the heat, Veminardi said, “I don't really feel like I'm surfing my best. On my first wave I did two turns and lined up the third one, and got a little over excited and fell off. Mateia [Hiquily] is surfing good and he's got no
pressure because he's young and has a few more years left in this event. So he's almost more dangerous than some of the older guys because of that.”
The second heat featured an intense battle between Freestone and Kato. Neither of the two surfers seemed to be having any luck with the waves. The Australian, however, put his local knowledge of the waves to use and successfully climbed to a heat-total of
10.20 points after scoring a 5.17 and 5.03 off his best-two waves.
In Response, Kato put on an impressive challenge. Though he got off to a slow start, scoring a mere 3.80 off his first business-wave, the Japanese surfer went on to add a 6.33 to his account, moving to a heat-total of 10.13 points. However, he failed to
add a higher wave-score to his account and was therefore forced to concede a crucial victory to Freestone, sending the latter into the next stage of the competition, the Quarter-finals.
The Billabong ASP World Junior Championships Gold Coast in the third and final event of ASP World Junior Tour and will determine the men’s and women’s 2011 ASP World Junior Champion.
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