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| Saturday 08th of August 2009 |
Team South Africa, Rosanne Hodge and Brandon Jackson in medal contention going into final day of Billabong ISA World Surfing Games
Justin Bing of Cape Town rides the nose on his way to 9th place overall in the Longboard division of the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games in Costa Rica. Photo: Sanchez/ISA
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Billabong ISA World Surfing Games
August 1-8, 2009
Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica
Team South Africa, Rosanne Hodge and Brandon Jackson in medal contention going into final day of Billabong ISA World Surfing Games
The South African surfing team consolidated its fourth place in the team standings as Brandon Jackson and Rosanne Hodge advanced to within one heat of gold, silver, bronze or copper medals going into the final day of the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games in Costa Rica today.(Saturday August 8)
After the penultimate day of competition at Playa Hermosa on Friday, Team USA holds a solid lead at the top of the rankings with five of their eight team members still in the running, followed by France with four surfers still accumulating points towards the team total.
Team SA, which is supported by a R400,000 grant from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF), along with Hawaii, Australia and Peru each have two surfers still in contention and will battle it out for third and fourth places on the podium.
Hodge (East London) secured a confidence-boosting victory over former ISA and ASP Women’s World Champion Sofia Mulanovich (PER) to move into the last four in the Qualifying stream yesterday, consigning in-form American Courtney Conlogue and her South African teammate Nikita Robb to the Repecharge rounds.
Hodge and Mulanovich will meet ASP World Junior Champion Pauline Ado (FRA) and Sage Ericson (USA) in the Qualifying stream Final. The top two advance to the Women’s Grand Final where they are assured of a medal while the third and fourth placed surfers get another chance when they take-on Conlogue and Amee Donohoe (AUS), the top two from the Repecharge rounds.
Robb went on to place second to Donohoe in Repecharge Round 6 but came up short in Round 7 when, despite posting a solid 6.70 out of 10 on her best ride, she could not find the 4.49 points she needed to progress on her second scoring ride and was eliminated from the event in 8th place overall and contributing 528 points to the team total.
Jackson (Durban North) was in inspired form on Friday, defeating the likes of ASP World Tour campaigner Jeremy Flores (FRA), Austin Ware (USA) and Carlos Munoz (CRI) in Repecharge Round 7 and then repeating that result in Round 8 where the Durbanite triumphed over Hawaiian standout Joel Centeio, Miguel Pupo (BRA) and Dayan Neve (AUS).
The South African then placed second behind Flores in Round 9 and will wait to see which two surfers from Cory Lopez and Ben Bourgeois (both USA), Hank Gaskell (HAW) and Gabriel Villaran (PER) drop out of the Qualifying Final, with the top two advancing to the Open Grand Final and medals.
Both the South Africans in the Longboard division posted creditable performances in their first ISA World Surfing Games with Michael Hill (St Francis Bay) eliminated in Repecharge Round 5, finishing fourth in his heat for equal 15th place overall and 425 points.
Justin Bing (Noordhoek) advanced to Round 6 where he posted a solid 6.40 out of 10 on his first ride but was left needing 5.34 points for second position and a spot in the next round. Bing placed equal ninth with 500 points towards the Team SA total.
Team SA was also narrowly pipped for second place in the Aloha Cup semi-finals by Peru when the five person squad needed a slender 1.66 points to advance to the final. Australia, France, Tahiti and Peru will contest the final, which does not count towards the team standings.
All the action on the final day of the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games 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 action on the final day 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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