Nathan Hedge claims victory in Round 1 heat at Murasaki Quiksilver Jeju Open of Surfing
Australia’s Nathan Hedge got off to an excellent start at the inaugural Association of Surfing Professionals 2-Star Murasaki Quiksilver Jeju Open of Surfing, claiming top honours in the opening heat of Round 1 (Round of 32) that went down at the Jungmun
Beach in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, on Friday, June 15.
Japan’s Yujiro Tsuji managed to finish in runner-up place, consequently accompanying Hedge into the second round (Round of 16, while Sungyong Ko from Korea was forced to settle for a third place finish, making an early exit from the competition as a result.
Despite hosting surfing events for quite some time now, it was the first time for South Korea to host an ASP-sanctioned event. Some of the most promising young guns from around the world had converged to the latest stage of surfing with the hope of getting
their hands on the winning prize of US$5,000 and up to 500 ASP Ranking points.
The surfing conditions on hand were not too shabby, with waves ranging between one-to-three foot on offer in sunny weather. The stage was set for a day full of exciting performances as the surfers got braced themselves to take each other on and prove their
mettle.
The opening heat of Round 1 saw Hedge face-off with Tsuji and Ko in a three-man battle for the Round 2 spot. The battle was originally meant to be a four-man bout, but one surfer had pulled out at the last minute, leaving the event organisers to continue
the action with three surfers instead of four.
As the heat got underway, Hedge wasted no time in getting down to business. The Australian surfer locked a juicy wave in the opening minutes of the heat to unload a combination of exquisite tricks and earning 8.75 points for the effort. He went on to back
it up with another impressive 8.00-point ride to finish with a heat-total of 16.75 points. The score held up until the end to see him off to a comprehensive victory.
Tsuji got off to a solid start as well, getting hold of a potent scoring opportunity and milking it for a 7.25. However, he struggled to maintain his rhythm and only managed to add an additional 2.70 points to his account, thus having to settle for runner-up
position with a heat-total of 9.95 points.
Ko was forced to make a premature exit from the competition field after failing to make an impressive impact during the course of the battle. Scoring a 3.00 and 2.00 off his best-two waves, the local talent finished in third place, which was not good enough
to get him through into the next round.
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