Phenomenal performance by Taj Burrow takes him to Round 3 of Billabong Rio Pro

Dominant performance by Taj Burrow sends him directly to Round 3 of Billabong Rio Pro

Australia’s Taj Burrow walked away with top honours from the fifth heat of Billabong Rio Pro’s Round 1 that went down at the secondary event venue of Arpoador in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday, May 9.

The successful result served to carry Burrow straight into the third round of the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title Series event. Australia’s Kieren Perrow finished in second place, whereas Brazil’s Tomas Hermes finished third. Both the surfers were consequently relegated to the second round, getting another opportunity to try and get their names included in the Round 3 line-up.

The surfing conditions prevailing at the main site of Barra da Tijuca did not turn out to be as good as the event organisers had hoped. As a result, they decided to shift the opening round of the competition to Arpoador, where clean two-to-four foot left-handers offered plenty of potential scoring opportunities to the surfers and thus promised a heavy dose of thrilling battles.

The fifth heat of Round 1 saw Burrow square off with his compatriot Perrow and the local talent Hermes in a three-man battle for the Round 3 spot.

Burrow, current World No.3 on the ASP World Title rankings, had gotten off to an excellent start in the latest season of the elite tour, clinching overall victory at Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast. However, his trip to Bells Beach for Rip Curl Pro had not gone too well. He was expected to push himself even harder during his stay in Brazil, something that was bound to get him a more attractive result.

As the fifth heat of Round 1 got underway, the 33-year-old Australian got off to an ordinary start, but gradually built momentum as the heat progressed. In the later stages of the heat, he caught a juicy left-hander to earn a 7.33 off it and immediately backed it up with an 8.83-point ride to get to a heat-total of 16.16 points. The score kept him in a convincing lead until the end to eventually seal the deal in his favour.

“It’s always good to get that first round out of the way,” Burrow said. “Skipping the second round is a real treat. I hate that round and it was great to catch a couple of fun lefts. It was kind of inconsistent at the start. My board was brand new, so I was a bit nervous, but it went well.”

Perrow finished in second place after collecting a couple of scores in the five-point range for a heat-total of 11.20 points.

Hermes scored a 5.10 and 4.43 off his best-two waves for a combined total of 9.53 points, thus finishing in third place. Both the surfers were consequently relegated to the second round to surf again for the Round 3 spot.

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Posted by Muhammad Qasim Hassan on May 11 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.