Nathan Hedge and Connor O’Leary move into Murasaki Quiksilver Jeju Open of Surfing finals
Australia’s Nathan Hedge and his fellow countryperson Connor O’Leary made their way into the Final at the inaugural Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 2-Star Murasaki Quiksilver Jeju Open of Surfing following their outstanding performances to emerge
triumphant in their respective semi-final heats that went down at Jungmun Beach in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, on Saturday, June 16.
Hedge got the better of Japan’s Arashi Kato in the first Semi-final to advance to the final stage of the competition while removing the latter from the contention for the event title.
The second Semi-final saw Japan’s Izuki Tanaka bow out to O’Leary to send the latter into the Final while getting ejected from the competition field.
While the second day of the first-ever ASP-sanctioned event in the Republic of Korea had kicked-off in sunny weather with two-foot waves, a low tide in the afternoon put the contest on hold for a while. However, the waves rose back to the two-to-three foot
range, allowing the competition to resume and head towards a possible finish.
The first Semi-final saw Hedge and Kato take each other on in a man-on-man battle for a spot in the Final.
As the battle got underway, both the surfers got off to an energetic start. Kato went through a series of average wave scores before posting an 8.00 on the score-board. He managed to back it up with another 8.00-point ride in the dying minutes of the heat
to finish with a heat-total of 16.00 points.
Hedge, however, outperformed his Japanese rival with an onslaught of his own. The Australian surfer scored a near-perfect 9.50 off his first business-wave halfway through the heat and added an additional 9.10 points to his account in the final minutes of
the heat, thus finishing with a heat-total of 18.60 points. The outstanding performance served to seal the fate of the battle in his favour.
The second Semi-final featured yet another nail-biting contest as O’Leary and Tanaka fought tooth-and-nail for a title-shot.
Tanaka got off to an excellent start and continued the momentum throughout the heat to eventually post an 8.75 and a 9.25 on the score-board for a heat-total of 18.00 points in the final stages of the heat.
O’Leary response to his Japanese rival’s performance was nothing short of phenomenal. The Australian surfer scored a 9.00 off his first business-wave and went on to back it up with a near-perfect 9.50-point wave, consequently finishing with a heat-total
of 18.50 points. The score sealed the deal to send him through into the Final.
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