Nathan Hedge, Olamana Eleogram and Torrey Meister advance to Round 3 at Mr Price Pro Ballito
Australia’s Nathan Hedge, Hawaii’s Olamana Eleogram and his fellow countryperson Torrey Meister walked away with top honours from their respective Round 2 (Round of 48) heats at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Mr Price Pro Ballito that
continued at Willard Beach in KwaDukuza, South Africa, on Thursday, July 5.
America’s Nathaniel Curran, Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth and America’s Patrick Gudauskas successfully extended their life in the competition as well after securing runner-up positions in their respective Round 2 heats.
The thrilling action continued at the primary event site as the crowd got to witness the huge competition field comprising of both local and international talent square-off in one-metre waves.
The third heat pitted Hedge against Curran, Australia’s Garrett Parkes and Guadeloupe’s Charles Martin in a four-man battle. He got off to a modest start, but gradually built momentum to eventually reach a heat-total of 13.96 points, which served to seal
the fate of the battle in his favour.
Curran barely missed out on the victory after scoring a two-wave total of 13.67 points. The effort was good enough to put him in second place though, consequently adding him to the Round 3 line-up.
Parkes and Martin finished with a heat-total of 12.83 and 9.22 points respectively, consequently having to leave the competition field.
The fourth heat saw Eleogram get the better of Toth, South Africa’s Shaun Joubert and Brazil’s Bernardo Miranda with an impressive performance for a heat-total of 12.00 points to advance to Round 3 (No-Loser Round of 24).
Toth managed to move into the next round as well after finishing in runner-up place with a heat-total of 11.34 points, whereas Joubert and Miranda rounded out the bottom-positions with a heat-total of 10.94 and 7.93 points respectively.
Meister clinched a comprehensive victory in the fifth heat of the second round. The Hawaiian surfer looked in controls since the start of the four-man battle and expertly navigated through the waves to post 9.17 and 5.90 on the score-board, finishing with
a resultant heat-total of 15.07 points.
Gudauskas made the Round 2 cut as well after finishing with a heat-total of 12.77 points, while Brazil’s Leonardo Neves and France’s Marc Lacomare got eliminated after finishing with a heat-total of 10.60 and 9.60 points respectively.
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