Willian Cardoso and Gabriel Medina emerge triumphant in Round 4 Quiksilver Saquarema Prime
Brazil’s Willian Cardoso and his fellow countryperson Gabriel Medina bounced back strongly from a Round 3 (No-Loser Round of 24) defeat at the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime presented by Coca-Cola by clinching victory in their respective Round 4 (Round of 24)
heats at the primary event site of Itauna Beach in Saquarema, Brazil, on Thursday, May 24.
Cardoso defeated his compatriot Flavio Nakagima in the fifth heat to advance into the fifth round (Round of 16) while bringing the competition to a premature end for the latter.
The sixth heat saw Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth succumbing to Medina, therefore getting eliminated from the competition while conceding the Round 5 spot to his rival.
The fourth event on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME calendar was delivering a heavy dose of thrilling action on its third day, with the two-to-three foot waves breaking at Itauna Beach serving as a perfect opportunity for the surfers
to put on terrific performances and keep themselves in contention for a share of the $US 250,000 purse as well as up to 850 ASP ranking points that were on offer.
The fifth heat of Round 4 pitted Cardoso and Nakagima against each other in a man-on-man fight for the Round 5 spot. Both the surfers had a bit of redeeming to do after their loss in the previous round and thus an intense battle was expected.
However, the clash ended up being pretty one-sided with Cardoso completely stealing the show through his phenomenal performance. Locking his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat, the Brazilian powerhouse posted an 8.33 on the score-board
and immediately backed it up with a near-perfect 9.70-point right, leaving everyone at the event site stunned with awe.
Nakagima responded with what appeared as an ordinary performance in front of what his rival had unleashed. Scoring a 7.00 and 6.73 off his best-two waves, he finished with a heat-total of 13.73 points, 4.30 points short of the required score. As a result,
he found himself eliminated from the competition.
The sixth heat featured an impressive performance by Medina as he took down Toth to progress further in the event.
Opening his account with a spectacular 7.83-point ride, the young Brazilian sensation went on to add another 6.93 points to his account, thus finishing with a heat-total of 14.76 points.
Toth only managed to reach a heat-total of 12.23 points, which comprised of a 4.40 and 7.83-point wave. The effort proved insufficient and thus put the Puerto Rican in second place, thus sealing the deal in Medina’s favour.
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