Connor O’Leary clinches victory in Round 1 heat at Murasaki Quiksilver Jeju Open of Surfing

Connor O’Leary clinches victory in Round 1 heat at Murasaki Quiksilver Jeju Open of Surfing

Australia’s Connor O’Leary made his way through into the second round (Round of 16) at the inaugural Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 2-Star Murasaki Quiksilver Jeju Open of Surfing after claiming top honours in the sixth heat of Round 1 (Round of 32) that went down at Jungmun Beach in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, on Friday, June 15.

Japan’s Izuki Tanaka finished just behind O’Leary in runner-up place to advance through into the next round of the competition. The other surfers in the heat, Kenichi Kurosawa and Kyoung Ho Yoo, got added to the elimination list following their bottom-two finish.

The surfing scene in the Republic of Korea had been picking up for quite some time now, but it was only this year that the ASP had decided to step into the region and officially sanction an event. The new ASP 2-Star event offered a prize money of US$5, 000 and an opportunity to collect up to 500 ASP ranking points, creating a strong appeal. The young guns from around the globe responded to the opportunity and converged to Jungmun Beach.

Day 1 of the competition saw one-to-three foot waves appear at the primary event site. The sunny weather, along with the promising action in store led to a huge crowd gathering up at the beach to catch the surfing young guns take each other on in three or four-man battles.

The sixth heat of Round 1 pitted O’Leary against Tanaka, Kurosawa and Yoo in a four-man battle for the Round 2 spot.

As the battle got underway, none of the four surfers got off to a solid start. O’Leary, however, continued to build momentum throughout the heat and eventually managed to post a 5.50 and 4.85 on the score-board in the final minutes of the heat. The effort turned out to be a decisive one, sealing the fate of the battle in his favour.

Tanaka was successful in extending his life in the event as well, collecting a couple of scores in the four-point range for a heat-total of 8.45 points, which served to earn him runner-up place.

Kurosawa finished with a heat-total of 8.25 points, comprising of a 3.50 and 4.75-point ride, while Yoo rounded out the bottom-position with a heat-total of 4.15 points. Both the surfers were consequently forced to make a premature exit from the competition.

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Posted by Muhammad Qasim Hassan on Jun 19 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.