SA surfers shine in France
2008-05-27 15:23
Seignosse, France - All but one of the 12 surfers in the SA team contesting the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in France progressed to the next round of the qualifying stream on day 2 of the annual event that determines the world's best junior surfing nation.
Team captain Matthew Bromley was the only team member to slip into the repecharge rounds when he placed third in his round 2 heat in the 18 and under division. The 16 year-old from Kommetjie finished behind Hawaiian star Granger Larsen and Paco Divers (NZL) and now faces a gruelling nine successive sudden-death heats if he is to qualify for the final under the double elimination format.
All four SA girls successfully negotiated their opening round heats as the conditions remained good but the swell dropped to just one metre and the event was postponed during the high tide when the waves stopped breaking.
Bianca Buitendag from George was the top performer of the SA quartet, convincingly winning her heat while team-mates Taryn Chudleigh (Kommetjie), Chantelle Rautenbach (Melkbos) and Sarah Baum (Athlone Park) finished runner-up in their respective match-ups.
Qualifying stream
Shaun Joubert (Mossel Bay), the top scorer in the Under-18 boys category so far, and Nick Godfrey (St Francis) reached the last 24 in the qualifying stream via heat victories and Chad du Toit (Berea), who led early in his heat, joined them by narrowly holding on to second place.
The Under-16 boys all reached the last 24 with Dane Staples (St Francis) and Michael February (Kommetjie) posting heat victories and Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga) and David Brand (Kommetjie) both finishing behind Australian opponents.
Surfers in the event compete for gold, silver, bronze and copper medals in Under-18 and Under-16 boys and Under-18 girls' divisions. The top three results in each division count towards the team total and there is also the hotly contested Tag-team event where teams of five, including one girl, from the top eight nations surf compete for medals.
South Africa placed seventh in the corresponding event in Portugal last year and are determined to return to the top four this year.
The championships runs until Sunday.
- SAPA