Yesterday, Rio Waida took out his Round 1 heat by a large margin, winning with a two-wave heat total of 14..37 over his nearest rival Toy Tanaka of Japan who finished with only a 9.57. Rio got to skip Round 2 and move right into Round 3.
Ketut Agus lead his Round 1 heat until the final minute or so, and was unlucky as the computer system went down in the final 5 minutes so none of the scores were being called out, so was bested by Australian Caleb Tancred by just .30 of a point…11.80 points to 11.50 points.
But today in Round Ketut got his revenge with a dominating performance over Mathis Crozon from France, jumping into the lead and building on it til the end, to win with a two-wave score of 12.83 to Crozon’s 8.77 and earn his spot in Round 3.
Indonesia’s top female Kailani Johnson placed second in her Round 1 heat, bested by one of the top junior females in the world and her friend Kirra Pinkerton of America. In her Round 2 heat today she had difficulty with wave selection and failed to find her rhythm, so is now out of the competition.
It’s a proud moment for Indonesia to have three junior surfers here in Taiwan…so let’s support them and cheer them on!