John John Florence defeats Joel Parkinson to take out the Billabong Rio Pro Title

John John Florence overcomes Joel Parkinson to claim the Billabong Rio Pro Title

Hawaii’s John John Florence took out the Billabong Rio Pro Title after defeating Australia’s Joel Parkinson in the Final that went down at the main event site of Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday, May 16.

Competing in his first-ever Association of Surfing Professional (ASP) World Tour, Florence did not take too long to step up and get the better of world’s best surfers to register an elite tour victory.

“This is the best feeling in the world,” Florence said. “I had that bad heat at Arpoador to start and we had a couple of lay days and I had to just sit and think about it. I can’t even believe this right now.”

The surfing conditions prevailing at the primary event site had not exactly been friendly, making the elite surfers put in an extra effort to find a couple of good scores during their heats. The three-to-four foot barrels on offer on Wednesday served as an ideal stage for an exciting finish to the latest stop of the 2012 ASP World Tour.

Both Florence and Parkinson had put on a series of exquisite performances to gradually make their way towards the Final. They did stumble along the way due to the challenging conditions, but did exceptionally well to bounce back strongly.

Pitted against each other in the Final, both Florence and Parkinson were expected to deliver a spectacular performance to try and get hold of the event title, along with the coveted ASP World Title ranking points.

As the Final kicked-off, the 19-year-old Florence got off to an excellent start, locking a perfect barrel in the opening minutes of the heat to pull off powerful airs. The superb effort enabled him to post a 9.10 on the score-board. Almost halfway through the heat, he added a 7.27 to his account to finish with a heat-total of 16.37 points.

Parkinson struggled to find his rhythm during the course of the 35-minute final. Entering the final with a strategy that seemed to be in complete contrast with that of his rival’s, the 31-year-old Australian attacked a handful of waves to try and find a big score. Despite a determined hunt, he only managed to score a 3.17 and 8.27 off his best-two waves, thus finishing with a heat-total of 11.44 points. As a result, he had no choice but to surrender victory and thus the event title to his young Hawaiian rival.

“I’m a little bit disappointed as I never really got a start in that final, but overall, I’m stoked,” Parkinson said after the Final. “The quality of waves here were unreal. Yesterday, we had full barrels and good sections for turns and airs, it was good for the event.”

With a victory in Brazil, Florence moved to the No.6 spot on the 2012 ASP World Title rankings, whereas Parkinson’s runner-up finish allowed him to replace the 11-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater at the No.1 spot.

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Posted by Muhammad Qasim Hassan on May 23 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.