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| Wednesday 05th of August 2009 |
Brandon Jackson stars as Team SA stay on track at Billabong ISA World Surfing Games
Brandon Jackson (Durban North) shows the high-flying form that has seen him progress to the last 16 in the Qualifying stream of the Open division at the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games in Costa Rica - Photo: Watts/ISA
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Billabong ISA World Surfing Games
August 1-8, 2009
Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica
Brandon Jackson stars as Team SA stay on track at Billabong ISA World Surfing Games
Brandon Jackson was the star performer on Day 3 of the 2009 Billabong ISA World Surfing Games in Costa Rica as Team South Africa stayed on track for honours at the “Olympics of Surfing".
Jackson, 22, from Durban North, won his Round 3 heat with an outstanding total of 15.27 points out of 20, one of top 10 scores of the Open division to date, to advance to the last 16 in the Qualifying stream.
Although Ryan Payne dropped into the Repecharge stream after finishing fourth in his Round 3 encounter, Rudy Palmboom and Damien Fahrenfort both progressed to Round 3 in their respective Repecharge match-ups. With the Women and Longboarders not in action on Monday, Team SA, whose attendance at the event is supported by a R400,000 grant from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF), remain one of just six nations who still have all eight of their team members still in contention at the 34 nation event.
Jackson, at No. 37 the highest WQS ranked South African in the Open division, was on fire during his clash, securing rides of 7.50 and then 7.77 in the tricky beach break conditions. He outpointed Costa Rican local Jason Torres, the highest point scorer in the event, and relegating Venezuelan standout Francisco Bellorin and seasoned Peruvian Javier Swayne to the Repecharges.
Payne (St Francis Bay) meanwhile simply could not find a high scoring second ride. After opening with a 6.67 he only managed three rides in the one-point range and had to settle for fourth place behind Hank Gaskell (HAW), Gabriel Villaran (PER) and Miguel Pupo (BRA) who placed first to third.
Palmboom (Bluff) kept his challenge alive with a consummate victory, accumulating 14.64 points to run out an easy winner while Fahrenfort (Kommetjie) scraped through his heat in the same round, posting rides of 4.50 and 5.10 to finish second behind Mexican Angelo Lozano and eliminating surfers from Nicaragua and Japan from the event.
Rosanne Hodge and Nikita Robb, both from East London, are already into the last 16 in the Women’s Qualifying stream which will the first division in the surf when competition resumes today (4pm CAT). The balance of the day’s program will be made up of Open Repecharge rounds where Palmboom and Fahrenfort will start in Round 3 before Payne makes his appearance in Round 4.
The Longboard division is still on hold and will only get underway on Wednesday in order to give those surfers who competed in the ASP World Longboard Tour event in Japan late last week to make their way to Costa Rica. SA’s representatives, Justin Bing (Noordhoek) and Michael Hill (St Francis Bay), are both in Costa Rica and itching to get started.
Team SA joins defending team champions Australia, USA, France, Peru and host nation Costa Rica as the only national teams who are yet to have any of the eight team members eliminated from the event. While it is still early in the event, the likes of Brazil, Hawaii, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Venezuela have already lost one team member with low points counting towards their team total.
All the action can be followed live via webcasts on www.billabongpro.com/isa09 which also provides news, full results, videos, photos and more. Costa Rica is eight hours behind South Africa with heats expected to start around 4pm CAT.
About Surfing South Africa (SSA)
Surfing South Africa is recognised by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) and the International Surfing Association (ISA) as the governing body for surfriding in South Africa.
Six provincial organisations and three national associations are affiliated to Surfing South Africa which coordinates and manages all aspects of surfriding from grass roots level through to the selection of National teams.
About the International Surfing Association (ISA)
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognised 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. |
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