Action began for the Masters at Puerto Rico
ISA World Master Surfing Championships
January 21st, 2007
Rincón, Puerto Rico
The ISA Porta del Sol World Masters Surfing Championships started today on a beautiful sunny day with perfect two to three feet waves at Domes Beach, Rincón. ISA President said in his remarks at the Opening Ceremony, “High performance surfing is not a matter of age any longer”, this was proven in the first day of the event.
Competition round one of the three categories fighting for the World Title -Masters, Grand Masters and Kahunas- took place today. The day best performance was made early in the morning by Juan Ashton from Puerto Rico, he surfed with great power, scoring 17.15 to beat Defending Champ Carlos Santos from Brazil –second-, Luigi de Marzo from Perú –third- and Belanino Rodriguez from Republica Dominicana –fourth-.
The well-known local surfer said: "I’m feeling good; basically in the first heat I was trying not to be nervous. My first few waves were small, so I started to wait for bigger ones and I finally demonstrated that I could get a good score". Referring about having this great contest at home, Ashton added: "I can see that this is going to be a good contest, the Brazilians are disciplined. Anyway I feel that Puerto Rico is a strong contender to win the championships, our team is good and we are on our waves".
Wagner Pupo from Brazil, who also competed in the Master division, scored the highest single wave score of the day, with an almost perfect 9.00. Pupo performed two big floaters on a set waves that were followed by a fluent cutback and an off the lip. The Brazilian backed his best ride with a 7.1 to combine 16.10, and won against Gustavo Betancourt from Puerto Rico-second-, Peruvian German Aguirre –third- and Dominican Robert Reid –fourth-.
"My first few waves weren’t so good, but later I started looking for better ones and I was lucky to find them. I’m cool, I'm enjoying this tournament, where there are a great number of people our age with lot of experience. I can see the surf quality of them, everybody can be a surprise" mentioned Pupo once the heat was over.
On the other hand, in the Grand Masters division -over 40 years old-, it was the South African David Malherbe who scored the highest combined score -13.25-, with his smooth surfing and a wise wave selection, Malherbe beat Pascal Luciani from Tahiti -second-, Aldo Ruiz from Dominican Republic -third-, and Daniel Morla from Ecuador -fourth-. The South African surfer happily mentioned: "I’m feeling good, the waves are pretty good. I was lucky to find two good waves. I look forward for them to keep coming in my direction. This championship is a fantastic opportunity to see old friends, all the veterans that used to compete in the WQS, it is a wonderful thing because we can gather all together again".
Also competing in the Grand Masters, the Peruvian Magoo de la Rosa was the author of the division second highest score -13.15-. Surfing with his typical powerful style, De la Rosa beat Defending Champ Carlos Santos from Brazil -second-, who’s participating in two categories, and the local star Alberto Licha -third-.
The eldest competitors of the event, the Kahunas -over 45 year old-, provided a great show, fighting each heat as if they were on their youth. Robert Reid from Dominican Republic -also a competitor on the Grand Master category- scored 13.00 points, which was the round highest combined score, and beat English Jed Stone -second-, Jamaican Anthony Wilmot -third- and Phillipe Klima from Tahiti -fourth-. 45 years old, Dominican said: "I was really worried because at the beginning of the heat I couldn’t get any waves at all. Luckily, I later found a right and a left that helped my score. I’m really happy; thank God everything went really well. I just have to keep going, it looks like the waves are getting bigger, and I think that that will help my surfing."
Among other results, Heifara Tahutini -ISA World Champion in 1990- and Noel Chave both from Tahiti along with Lee Bartlett and Grishka Roberts from England did a great job, placing themselves on the first place of their Masters heats.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian Marcelo Boscoli, the South African Craig Simms, English Daz Wright and his country fellow man Roger Knight won their respective heats of the Grand Masters.
Between Kahunas competitors, Gary Rogers from Great Britain, Rudi Plamboom and Chris Knutsen from South Africa with Gilles Asenjo and Jean Labrucherie both from France, all won on their heats.
Up to now, round one of all divisions have been played, and as the event is one of double elimination no country has lost any athletes on the competition yet. Nevertheless, the only countries that still have all their surfers in the main event are: South Africa, France, United Kingdom and Brazil –with an incomplete team-.
Competition day two of the ISA World Masters Surfing Championships will be held tomorrow starting at 8:00 AM -local time-. According to the predictions, waves will be bigger and the championship will take place either on Domes or Marias.
On-line broadcasting wasn't available today for extraordinary reasons, the members of the Organization Staff want to apologize for this inconvenience and invite you to watch the best Masters surfers of the World live from Rincon, Puerto Rico tomorrow.
ISA Porta del Sol World Masters Surfing Championship is possible thanks to the support of the Tourism Company of Puerto Rico, Heineken, Villa Cofresi, Ricoh, Entertainments and Sports Department, El Nuevo Día, Nido companies, Sprite, 103.7 FM, One Link Communications, Choice Cable TV, Liberty Internet, rad!, The Room and Rincon of the Seas. It is organized by the Puerto Rico Surf Federation and supervised by the International Surfing Association.
About International Surfing Association (ISA)
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for surfing, bodyboarding and surfriding. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running World Championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980.
ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over 50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio, and re-elected five times since. The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Robin de Kock (South Africa), Alan Atkins (Australia), Maile Aguerre (Hawaii) and Mike Gerard (USA).
Pablo Zanocchi –on site at Puerto Rico-
ISA WMSC Media Manager
pablo@isasurf.org
Catch all the action from anywhere in the world by logging on to http://www.rincon-hangout.com/isa/home.htm and experience live scoring and video streaming daily. Additionally, photos will be available for viewing and free downloading at http://www.rincon-hangout.com/isa/home.htm. For more information email WMSC Media Manager, Pablo Zanocchi – Pablo@isasurf.org.
