Mathew Moir (SAfr) : photo courtesy ISA

ISA World Surfing Games

International Surfing Association
Huntington Beach, California
14 - 22 October 2006 

Matthew Moir blitzes opposition at ISA World Surfing Games

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 16 October, 2006 : - - The 21st ISA World Surfing Games (WSG) started at Huntington Beach in California on Sunday and South Africa’s Matthew Moir immediately stamped his authority on the early rounds of the longboard division. 

The nine-day event regarded as the ‘Olympics of Surfing’ opened with the colourful ‘Parade of Nations’ that saw the 35 participating teams march down the iconic Huntington Beach Pier on Saturday and organisers got the event underway on Sunday with the first two rounds of the longboard and the first rounds of men’s and women’s bodyboarding. 

Moir, whose surfboards were lost in transit and only arrived on Saturday afternoon, absolutely blitzed his opponents in the opening heat of the event, leaving all three needing a combination of scores to overtake him.  

The 29 year-old from Kirstenhof in Cape Town then repeated that performance in the second round to end the day with four of the top six rides recorded, including the best score of 8.5 points from a possible 10, and the top two accumulated heat tallies. 

South Africa finished third in the last biennial WSG event in Ecuador in 2004 and even though this lofty seeding saw Moir pitted against competitors from Mexico, Italy and the Dominican Republic, his scores overshadowed those of his chief rivals for the WSG crown such as former world professional longboard champions Colin McPhilips (USA), who he meets in round three, and Bonga Perkins (Hawaii). 

Wesley Fischer (Durban) and Sacha Specker (Camps Bay) successfully advanced to round two of the men's bodyboard division in the glassy one metre (2-3 foot) waves, placing first and second respectively in their opening encounters. 

Given their seeding the four South Africans in the premier men’s’ shortboard category should also have relatively easy passages through to round two of the qualifying stream in the double elimination format used at WSG events. 

Gavin Roberts (Scottburgh) will be the first of the quartet in action in heat eight when the men’s surfing starts on Monday, followed by team captain Granville West (PE) in the next heat, standout Jordy Smith in heat 21 and fellow Durbanite Matthew Kruger in the 28th of the 32 heats in the first round. 

The caliber of the SA men will be put to the test in the later rounds as both the USA and Australian teams include several established professional stars including 2000 ASP world champion CJ Hobgood, his twin brother Damien and Chris Ward who are representing the host nation, while WCT stalwarts Luke Stedman and Tom Whitaker are in the Australian side to defend their 2004 team triumph. 

Rosanne Hodge (East London) and Tammy-Lee Smith (Salt Rock) also face daunting challenges on their path to the finals of the women’s surfing event with WCT campaigners Jessi Miley-Dyer (Aus) and Jacqueline Silva (Brazil) amongst their opponents. 

And Lyndall Pells completes the SA line-up in the women’s bodyboarding where she encounters girls from the UK, Switzerland and Portugal in the first round before coming up against the likes of two-time defending champ Neymara Carvalho (Brazil). 

The ISA World Surfing Games runs from 14-22 October with the individual champions in the five divisions, the Tag team winners and the overall top nation crowned after the finals next Sunday. 

All the action can be followed live via webcasts on www.isasurf.org or www.surfingamerica.org with daily updates on www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za 

The SA team has been funded by a grant from the National Lottery Board (Lotto) and the side has received support from O'Neill South Africa, Island Style and Reef Wetsuits.

www.isasurf.org

Team South Africa:  www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za
# 1 : S Afr Surfing Team leaves for 2006 ISA WSG on Tuesday
# 2 : Granville West named captain for 2006 S.A. Surfing team
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

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