Success awaited Reo Kanao and Saxon Lumsden on Day 1 of ASP 1-Star Championship Moves Open
Japan’s Reo Kanao and Australia’s Saxon Lumsden clinched top honours in their respective heats of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 1-Star Championship Moves Open’s Round 1 (Round of 48) that went down at Jan Juc in Victoria, Australia, on Thursday,
January 5.
With the competition shifting from its original site of Bells Beach to Jan Juc, the surfers found themselves battling it out in three-foot waves. The quality of the waves set the stage for a day full of thrilling contest.
The fifth heat of Round 1 saw Kanao squared off with the competition’s sole Indian competitor Hairil Anwar, Australia’s Conner O’Leary and his compatriot Sam Clift.
As the battle got underway, the Japanese surfer got off to an excellent start, locking a wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post an 8.25 on the score-board, taking an early advantage. Keeping the search for another good score going, he only managed
to add a 3.35 to his account, consequently finishing with a heat-total of 11.60 points. The score proved to be sufficient to earn him to honours and carry him off into the next round.
Anwar put up an impressive fight for victory, but eventually ended up falling short. Scoring 8.25 points off his first business-wave and later adding another 3.00 to his account, he finished with a heat-total of 11.25 points.
The local surfer O’Leary scored 5.60 and 4.75 points off his best-two waves to finish in third place with a heat-total of 10.35 points, whereas his fellow countryperson Clift rounded out the bottom position with a heat-total of 8.55 points. The bottom-two
finish resulted in the elimination of both the surfers from the competition.
The sixth heat pitted Lumsden against fellow Australians Glyndyn, Kelly Norris and Joshua Sherwell in a battle for the Round 2 slot.
In what turned out to be a low-scoring heat, Lumsden remained the most-prominent surfer of the lot. A few minutes into the battle, he caught a wave to post 5.00 on the score-board and soon followed it up with a 3.80-point wave, consequently finishing the
heat with a two-wave total of 8.80 points. With none of his rivals managing to surpass his score, he advanced through into Round 2 confidently.
Ringrose got off to a really slow start, earning merely 2.85 points off his first business-wave. Adding another 4.35 points to his account, the Australian eventually finished with a heat-total of 7.20 points to finish in runner-up place, successfully extending
his life in the competition.
Norris and Sherwell got eliminated from the competition after finishing in third and fourth place respectively. Norris scored 6.00 points in total off his top-two waves, while Sherwell caught a 2.00 and 1.65-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 3.65
points.
The opening round of Championship Moves Open continued to cut off heads with the seventh and eighth heat that went down at Jan Juc before end of competition’s first day.
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