Sally Fitzgibbons advances into the Quarter-finals of Billabong Women’s Rio Pro
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons successfully secured her place in the Quarter-final of the Billabong Women’s Rio Pro, the fifth of seven stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Title Series, after claiming victory in the
third heat of Round 3 that went down at the main event venue of Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday, May 12.
Australia’s Rebecca Woods finished in second place, while Hawaii’s Malia Manuel had to settle for third place. Both the surfers were consequently relegated to the fourth round to surf again for a place in the Quarter-final.
The fourth day of the competition saw the elite female surfers return to the main even site of Barra di Tijuca after getting done with the first-two rounds at the secondary event site of Arpoador. The demanding one-to-two foot waves arriving at Barra da
Tijuca put the experience and skills of the surfers to test.
The third heat of Round 3 pitted Fitzgibbons against Woods and Manuel in a battle for the Quarter-final spot.
Fitzgibbons, 2011 ASP Women’s World Runner-Up and current No.2 on the ASP Women’s World Title rankings, put on a superb performance despite the wave-starved conditions. She got hold of a juicy wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post a 7.17 on the
score-board and went on to add an 8.83 to her account in the final minutes of the heat to finish with a heat-total of 16.00 points.
“Everyone was struggling to get waves and there were only a few opportunities to get scores,” Fitzgibbons said. “It’s really nice to have a good start to the heat. I was just hoping to find a couple of those rights and hopefully the swell picks up for the
remainder of the event.”
Woods finished in second place with a heat-total of 12.16 points, which included a 5.83 and 6.33-point ride. Manuel failed to make much of an impact during the bout as well, finishing in third place with a heat-total of 10.50 points. Both the surfers were
forced to surf in the elimination round to try and earn their place in the Quarter-final stage of the competition.
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