Women’s Round 1 Action Commences at Oakley ASP World Pro Junior in Bali
CANGGU, Bali/Indonesia (Saturday, October 2, 2010) – While the world’s best surfers battle it out in stop no.7 on the ASP Men’s World Tour in France, the next breed of surfing superstars were making history in Bali.
The Oakley ASP World Pro Junior, which got underway in peaky 2-3ft (0.5-1 metre) beach break waves at the backup venue of Canggu with Round 1 of the Pro Junior women’s division, signalled the start of event no.1 on the inaugural ASP World Junior Tour (WJT).
As a blessing to the event, the field of 48 men and 18 women were greeted to a colourful, traditional Balinese ceremony before competition got underway at 8am.
Tyler Wright (AUS), 17, put the world’s best junior surfers on notice, top scoring for the day with an 18.24 combined two-wave total.
Wright, who won the 2008 Beachley Classic, an ASP Women’s World Tour event at the tender age of 14, performed the biggest turns in the most critical parts of the peaky conditions to build on her scores until the halfway stage when she nailed a flurry of entertaining, high scoring waves.
The surfing whiz showing superior heat strategy by opting to surf the right-hand peak at the other end of the competition area.
“It was looking pretty good before my heat, so I just went for it,” said Wright. “Every now and again there would be a couple of sets coming through and it seemed to offer more scoring potential. I just thought the righthander was a better option.”
Despite a slow start, Wright recorded an 8.67 and a near perfect 9.57 to beat Diana Cristina (BRA) and Leila Hurst (HAW).
Defending ASP Women’s World Junior Champion, Laura Enever’s (AUS) title defence got off to a less than perfect start, defeated by Lakey Peterson (USA) and Minato Takashi (JPN) in the third heat of the round.
Peterson, 16, put Enever on the ropes in the highly contested the 30-minute exchange, accruing a 7.00 and 8.00 to finish the victor with a 15.00 two-wave total to Enever’s 9.16.
“I kind of didn’t get any waves. Lakey (Peterson) jagged two really good ones and established a strong lead,” said Enever. “The ocean went flat for while during the middle of the heat and I couldn’t peg her back. Luckily I can get a bad heat out of the way first heat. I’m really excited for round three and hopefully we get some good waves.”
Despite the shaky start, Enever progressed alongside Peterson to Round 3, with Takashi relegated to Round 2 contention.
Enever, who is from Narrabeen on the Northern Beaches of Sydney knows it’s important to push the limits heading into the round three and get a edge over her competitors towards the business end of the high stakes tournament.
”I know I need to step it up,” she said. “The next heat I need to make sure I get the waves and have a good time. I’m psyched to do better in the next heat.”
2009 ASP Women’s World Junior Champion Pauline Ado (FRA), 20, who made ASP history as the first non-Australian female to claim the ASP World Junior Title in 2009 at Narrabeen in Australia, was in sensational form in the opening heat of the women’s round, netting a 14.43 combined two-wave total.
“It’s feels so good to take the win straight after the opening ceremony, which was so Bali,” she said. “The waves were pretty small and I had fun out there.”
The talented natural foot, who is ranked 5th on the ASP Women’s World Rankings, wasted no time in getting busy in the beach break left and right hand peaks, beating fellow French surfer Alizee Arnaud (FRA) and Nao Omura (JPN) with a 6.93 and an even stronger 7.50.
Joining Ado and Peterson as Round 1 winners included Airini Mason (NZL), Sage Erickson (USA) and Malia Manuel (HAW).
When competition resumes in Round 2 of the women’s division, heat 1 will see Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) and Nao Omura (JPN) face off with Minato Takahashi (JPN). Heat 2 will will feature Chantelle Rautenbach (ZAF), Leila Hurst (HAW) and Camila Cassia (BRA).
Contest organisers will reconvene at 6.30am at Canggu for the next call.
The Oakley ASP World Pro Junior will be webcast LIVE via
www.oakleyprojunior.com For more information, log onto
www.aspworldtour.com OAKLEY ASP WORLD PRO JUNIOR ROUND 1 RESULTS (WOMEN’S):
Heat 1: Pauline Ado (FRA) 14.43, Alizee Arnaud (FRA) 12.17, Nao Omura (JPN) 7.74
Heat 2: Sage Erickson (USA) 12.10, Alessa Quizon (HAW) 12.10, Chantelle Rautenback (ZAF) 8.86
Heat 3: Lakey Peterson (USA) 15.00, Laura Enever (AUS) 9.16, Minato Takahashi (JPN) 5.57
Heat 4: Airini Mason (NZL)10.00, Courtney Conlogue (USA) 9.77, Camila Cassia (BRA) 6.67
Heat 5: Tyler Wright (AUS) 18.24, Diana Cristina (BRA) 15.23, Leila Hurst (HAW) 14.20
Heat 6: Malia Manuel (HAW) 11.16, Felicity Palmateer (AUS) 10.34, Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) 9.27
OAKLEY ASP WORLD PRO JUNIOR ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS (WOMEN’S):
Heat 1: Bianca Buitendag (ZAF), Nao Omura (JPN), Minato Takahashi (JPN)
Heat 2: Chantelle Rautenbach (ZAF), Leila Hurst (HAW), Camila Cassia (BRA)
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