Rikiya Kitada and Kento Takahashi survive Round 1 heat at Murasaki Quiksilver Jeju Open of Surfing
Japan’s Rikiya Kitada successfully advanced to the second round (Round of 16) at the inaugural Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 2-Star Murasaki Quiksilver Jeju Open of Surfing after claiming top honours in the second 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 Kento Takahashi finished just behind Kitada in runner-up place to accompany the latter into the next round. Their fellow countryperson Yumeto Yamagishi finished third, while Korea’s Min Kyung Shik had to settle for a fourth place finish. The bottom-two
finish by the two surfers resulted in their early exit from the competition.
Surfing may not be anything new in Korea, but this year turned out to be historical as ASP set its foot in the region for the first time to sanction a surfing event. With prize money of up to US$5,000 on offer along with the opportunity to grab 500 ASP ranking
points, the competition attracted emerging talent from around the globe to Jungmun Beach.
The opening day of the competition offered one-to-three foot waves, while the weather turned out to be ideal for an exciting day of surfing. The huge crowd in attendance had a good reason to feel excited about the action that they were about to witness.
The second heat of Round 1 saw Kitada take on Takahashi, Yamagishi and Shik in a four-man battle for the Round 2 spot.
As the battle got underway, all four surfers apparently struggled to find their rhythm. Kitada eventually managed to break free of the shackles with a 5.00-point ride, which he later backed with a 4.70-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 9.70 points.
The score held up until the end to earn him the win.
Takashi successfully moved into the next round as well following his second-place result, courtesy of a 3.60 and 6.00-point wave for a heat-total of 9.60 points.
Yamagishi did not miss out on the runner-up place by much. The Japanese surfer collected an identical score of 4.50 off his best-two waves to find himself finish 0.60 points behind Takahashi.
Shik seemed completely out of sorts throughout the course of the battle, managing to reach a heat-total of 4.40 points only. The Norwegian surfer consequently joined Yamagishi on the elimination list.
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