Miguel Tudela and Chris Ward power into Round 2 of Hainan Classic
Peru’s Miguel Tudela and America’s Chris Ward successfully advanced through into Round 2 (Round of 32) after claiming top honours in their respective Round 1 (Round of 64) heats of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Hainan Classic that resumed at Wanning in Hainan Island, China, on Thursday, January 12.
Tudela advanced into the next round of the competition by prevailing over the South Africans Royden Bryson and Sarah Baum, as well as Japan’s Izuki Tanaka in the 13th heat. Bryson successfully kept himself alive in the contention for the event title by securing runner-up place. The third and fourth place finish by Tanaka and Baum respectively led to their ejection from the competition.
Ward, on the other hand, walked away with top honours in the 14th heat. Australia’s Perth Standlick also made the Round 2 cut after finishing in second place. America’s Trevor Thornton finished third, whereas Chinese Taipei’s Kuo Heng Liang rounded out the fourth position. The bottom-two finish by the two surfers led to their elimination from the contention for the event title.
With three-to-five foot surf on offer at Wanning, the opening day of the competition was turning to be full of stylish and technical manoeuvres as the surfers held nothing back to ensure their survival in the contention for the event title.
The 13th heat did not disappoint in terms of delivering top-notch action either as Tudela took on Bryson, Tanaka and Baum for a place in the next round.
As the battle kicked off, the Peruvian surfer got off to a shaky start and failed to post a solid score on the scoreboard. However, he made a charge late in the heat and collected a 5.00 off his first business-wave before locking a wave to unload a string of exquisite tricks, earning 8.33 points for the effort.
Bryson sat at a heat-total of 13.33 points, which comprised of a 6.33 and 7.00-point wave. Even though his and Tudela’s score was a tie, the latter was awarded the win due to a higher single-wave score, making Bryson settle for runner-up place. Both the surfers successfully made the Round 2 cut.
Tanaka scored 12.43 points in total off his best-two waves, finishing in third place as a result. Baum finished last with a two-wave total of 5.40 points. As a result, both the surfers were forced to make an early exit from the competition.
Ward took the win in the 14th heat after scoring 7.83 points off his first business-wave a few minutes into the heat and immediately following it up with a 5.70-point wave, consequently finishing with a resultant heat-total of 13.53 points.
Standlick got himself in a position to give Ward a tough time after scoring 6.50 points off his first wave, but failed to find another competitive score. Adding another 5.63 points to his account, he eventually finished with a heat-total of 12.13 points. While he missed out on first place, the runner-up finish was sufficient to get him through into the next round.
Thornton finished in third place with 9.46 points, while Liang rounded out the bottom position with 4.10 points. The lacklustre performance resulted in the elimination of both the surfers from the competition.
The inaugural ASP 4-Star Hainan Classic is the second event of the Hainan Wanning Riyue Bay International Surfing Festival.
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