Wade Carmichael and Hairil Anwar emerge triumphant in Round 2 of Championship Moves Open
Australia’s Wade Carmichael and India’s Hairil Anwar stole the show in the fifth and sixth heat of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Championship Moves Open’s Round 2 (Round of 32) respectively at the Jan Juc beach in Victoria, Australia, on Saturday, January 7.
In the fifth heat, Carmichael took on Japanese Reo Kanao, Australia’s Glyndyn Ringrose and his fellow countryman Jack Perry in a four-man battle for the Round 3 (Round of 16) spot. With three-foot waves and slight on-shore winds prevailing at the event site, the showdown was expected to be a thrilling one.
As the heat kicked off, none of the four surfers were able to put on a memorable performance. Carmichael, however, managed to give something to the crowd to cheer about as he performed a string of tricks on his two business waves to post a couple of fives on the score-board in the last minutes of the heat. The resultant heat-total of 10.90 points was enough to earn him victory and carry him off into the next round.
After an exquisite performance during Round 1, Kanao’s performance in his latest heat came as a huge disappointment. Finishing with a heat-total of 8.40 points, which included a 4.00 and 4.40-point wave, he did manage to extend his life in the event, but there was hardly any classy stuff from the Japanese surfer during the battle.
Ringrose and Perry failed to make any significant impact in the game and ended up rounding out the third and fourth position respectively. Ringrose ended the heat with a heat-total of 7.40 points, whereas the latter scored a total of 7.30 points off his best-two waves.
The sixth heat saw the sub-continent-based Anwar take on Tahiti’s Enrique Ariitu, Australia’s Todd Rosewall and his compatriot Saxon Lumsden.
Anwar got down to business right from the start of the heat, locking a wave in the opening minutes to post a 5.25 on the score-board. He later added another 6.65 points to his account to eventually finish with a heat-total of 11.90 points. The two-wave total sealed the fate of the four-man battle in his favour, carrying him through into the next round.
Ariitu collected a 6.00 and 3.10 off his two business-waves in the final minutes of the heat to finish with a heat-total of 9.10 points. The effort, though not that remarkable, was enough to put him in runner-up place and add him to the Round 3 line-up.
Rosewall collected a total of 8.15 points off his top-two waves, while Lumsden, who had been really impressive on the first day of the competition, finished fourth with 6.15 points. The disappointing performances by the two surfers led to their elimination from the competition.
With two more heats of Round 2 and the entire Round 3 of Championship Moves Open, there was still plenty of action to go down at Jan Juc beach before Saturday’s sunset.
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