Medi Veminardi and Wade Carmichael advance to Billabong ASP World Junior Championships Semi-finals
Reunion Island’s Medi Veminardi got the better of Australia’s Jack Freestone in the first Quarter-final, while Australia’s Wade Carmichael prevailed over Brazil’s Ian Gouveia in the second Quarter-final of Billabong Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior Championships that went down at the renowned Burleigh Heads in Gold Coast, Australia, on Saturday, January 28.
Clinching victory in their respective Quarter-finals, Veminardi and Carmichael advanced through into the Semi-finals, while Freestone and Gouveia found themselves out of the contention for the event title as well as the ASP World Junior Title.
The surfing conditions did not show much improvement on the final day of the competition, with the sea still offering stormy two-to-three foot waves at the primary event site. The surfers found their ability to select the right waves and attack the right section on test.
Facing an in-form Veminardi in the first Quarter-final, defending World Junior Champion Freestone found himself getting pushed to his limit. His competitor was proving to be a force to be reckoned with, while the tricky two-to-three foot waves were not making the battle any easier for him.
Struggling to catch waves, Freestone managed to post a 5.00 and 6.50 on the score-board to move to a heat-total of 11.50 points. The score was indeed a challenging one, taking the conditions on hand into consideration.
However, Veminardi rose to the occasion and met the challenge head on. He earned 7.67 points off his first business-wave and eventually backed it up with a 4.33-point wave to finish with a decisive heat-total of 12.00 points.
Had Freestone managed to survive the heat and advance to the next stage of the competition, he would have moved ahead of Australia’s Garrett Parkes on the ASP World Junior Rankings.
The second Quarter-final turned out to be a pretty one-sided affair with Carmichael taking a comprehensive win over Gouveia. The Australian surfer had already announced himself as a deadly competitor after removing Brazil’s Caio Ibelli, the front-runner for the ASP World Junior Title, from the competition. Facing yet another Brazilian in the Quarter-finals, Carmichael had little reason to doubt his successfully make it into the Semi-finals.
As the second Quarter-final began, Carmichael locked his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat to earn 7.17 points off it. He managed to add an additional 7.10 points to his account in the final minutes of the heat, taking his heat-total to 14.27 points.
Gouveia, on the other hand, failed to deliver the sort of performance that was required of him at such a crucial stage. He scored a mere 3.00 and 4.00 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 7.00 points. As a result, it turned out to be smooth sailing for Carmichael.
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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