Jihad Khodr : photo Cestari/Mr Price Pro

Mr. Price Pro

ASP 6 Star WQS Mens Event
ASP 5 Star WQS Womens Event
North Beach Durban South Africa
29 June - 8 July 2007

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

BRAZIL’S KHODR TAKES INNUAGURAL WQS WIN IN DURBAN

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 8 July, 2007 : - - Durban -- Reigning Brazillian Surfing Champion Jihad Khodr, 23, (Machios, Brazil) stamped his Nation’s authority on the 6-Star ASP World Qualifying Series Mr Price Pro by becoming the fourth Brazilian surfer to win the event in eight years at Durban’s New Pier today.

Khodr, who entered the event rated No. 25 on the WQS, defeated Fosters ASP World Tour No. 12 Jeremy Flores (Reunion) in the Final, jumping to an incredible third position on the WQS ratings whilst taking home a total of R111 000 (US$ 15000) in prize money.

“I can’t believe it; I tried so hard to win here! Everyone comes to win but this was my time. All my friends were here supporting me and my Dad made a big party for me at home, sending me lots of good energy from Brazil, this is like a dream come true!” Khodr said in broken English.

An absolute standout from start to finish, Khodr’s electric surfing saw him take a total of five out of six heat victories to reach the Final, reveling in the waves similar to those of his home break in Southern Brazil.

Jihad Khodr : photo Cestari/Mr Price Pro

Equaling the highest individual wave score of the event captured by Alain Riou (Tahiti) earlier in the week, Khodr posted two 9.33’s and went on to post the highest combined two wave heat total, a 17.80 (out of a possible 20.00), which he captured in an thrilling Semifinal clash against Australian Jay Thompson, who finished equal third.

Marching into the Final, Khodr looked like the favourite son from the get go, opening up with a spectacular hands free aerial and a punchy reentry, sliding his tail out to earn a 7.33. Flores on the other hand seemed somewhat out of sorts, the Frenchman failing to score more than a 6.67 and allowing Khodr to pull away.

At the 11 minute mark, Khodr stroked into a good looking wave, performing four massive tail release re-entries, throwing buckets of spray that earned him a perfect 9.00 score across the board, from which Flores was never able to recover.

 “The standard of surfing was so high and it was very hard to win this contest. The waves were excellent here, Jeremy Flores was ripping, and so was Josh Kerr and Jay Thompson, and to win the event with so many World Tour surfers competing, has given me the confidence to qualify for the World Tour,” Khodr said, having finished third at this event in 2005.

Jeremy Flores : photo Karen/Mr Price Pro

Flores,19,  who surfed a total of nine heats - the most heats surfed to reach the final in the history of the event - did well to finish second, earning R55 500 (US$7500) despite surfing boards that were shaped for the more powerful waves of Jeffreys Bay, where he will be competing in a World Tour event next week.

“I'm very happy with this result. Of course, a win would have been better but I'm still very happy. Every man on man heat I get to surf is great practice for the World Tour. I'm very stoked with the waves here at New Pier, every year we get good waves and it's one of the better stops on the WQS for sure, I will definitely be back next year!” Flores said.

The Reunion born surfer was the youngest competitor ever to qualify for the ASP World Tour after winning the WQS in 2006, and impressed all throughout the event by taking down Tiago Pires (Portugal) in a seesaw battle during the Semifinals, which saw Flores take the lead in the final two minutes to win the heat.

Pires who finished equal 3rd, earning US$ 4500 (R33 300) has assumed the No. 1 position on the WQS ratings ahead of Durban’s Jordy Smith, who slipped down to 2nd when he failed to advance through his first heat on Thursday. Equal 3rd place finisher Jay Thompson’s result has moved him from 15th up to 5th on the WQS ratings and the Australian will also be making a solid charge for a World Tour berth next year.

Jay Thompson : photo Karen/Mr Price Pro

South Africa’s last standing competitor David Weare (Durban) reached the Men’s Round of 16 where he was defeated by Josh Kerr (Australia) in the first heat of the day, to finish equal 9th earning R14 000 and has climbed to 35th position on the WQS.

The Mr Price Pro Men’s Final saw hundreds of surfing supporters flock to the beach at New Pier to witness the crowning of the 2007 Men’s Champion, which was broadcast live on SABC 1, while the Mr Price Pro website enjoyed record traffic with a total of 5.2 Million unique hits recorded today alone, most of which came from France.

The Mr Price Pro, the richest WQS event in South Africa holding a total prize-money purse of R1, 075 Million, saw over 300 surfers from the world’s leading surfing nations compete over the ten day period which formed part of the Durban Beach Festival.

RESULTS

Final
Jihad Khodr, BRA 16.33; Jeremy Flores, FRA 12.14

Semi Final 1
Jihad Khodr, BRA 17.80; Jay Thompson, AUS 16.50

Semi Final 2
Jeremy Flores, FRA 14.00; Tiago Pires, PRT 13.00

Current WQS Ratings

Pires,Tiago	PRT	1	10850
Smith,Jordy	ZAF	2	10063
Khodr,Jihad	BRA	3	9313
Thompson,Jay	AUS	4	9263
Padaratz,Neco	BRA	5	9094
Perrow,Kieren	AUS	6	9051
Howse,Jarrad	AUS	7	8888
Bourgeois,Ben	USA	8	8863
Flintoff,Kirk	AUS	9	8550
Reynolds,Dane	USA	9	8550
Munro,Luke	AUS	11	8294
Courtney,Drew	AUS	12	8188
Alves,Heitor	BRA	13	8150
Picon,Mikael	FRA	14	8075
Aranburu,Aritz	ESP	15	7707
Hedge,Nathan	AUS	16	7688
Powers,Roy	HAW	17	7625
Lopez,Shea	USA	18	7525
Acero,Eneko	ESP	19	7513
Silva,Jean da	BRA	20	7464
Bourez,Michel	PYF	21	7439
Beven,Patrick	FRA	22	7419
Neves,Leonardo	BRA	23	7376
Boal,Tim	FRA	24	7319
Nolan,Asher	USA	25	7258
Romao,Simao	BRA	26	7226
Buchan,Adrian	AUS	27	7169
Paulino,Pablo	BRA	28	7026
Coutinho,Odirlei	BRA	29	6919
Todd,Mike	USA	30	6763
Sodre,Yuri	BRA	31	6738
Ross,Daniel	AUS	32	6700
Kling,Gabe	USA	33	6370
Bacalso,Kekoa	HAW	34	6238
Weare,David	ZAF	35	6151
Centeio,Joel	HAW	36	6127
Silva,Andre	BRA	37	6126
Dornelles,Rodrigo	BRA	38	6089
Fahrenfort,Damien	ZAF	39	6065
Davidson,Chris	AUS	40	5926
Simpson,Brett	USA	41	5876
Brooks,Troy	AUS	42	5775
Neve,Dayyan	AUS	43	5713
Winter,Russell	GBR	44	5688
Hobgood,C.J.	USA	45	5681
Gudauskas,Patrick	USA	46	5657
Collazo,Hodei	ESP	47	5644
Barron,T.J	HAW	48	5638
Mathews,Mark	AUS	49	5588
Miranda,Bernardo	BRA	50	5414
Emslie,Greg	ZAF	51	5400
Cardoso,William	BRA	52	5326
Barca,Dustin	HAW	53	5288
Duru,Joan	FRA	54	5188
Ziems,Corey	AUS	55	5182
Gray,Alex	USA	56	5175
Muscroft,Nic	AUS	57	5163
Wright,Warwick	ZAF	58	5119
Eleogram,Ola	HAW	59	5088
Ward,Shaun	USA	60	4938
Otton,Kai	AUS	61	4895
Bastos,Leandro	BRA	62	4864
Bryson,Royden	ZAF	62	4864
Cuizon,Dustin	HAW	64	4863
Gonzalez,Jonathan	CNY	64	4863
Gouveia,Fabio	BRA	66	4788
Bombaci,Rhys	AUS	67	4775
Henrique,Pedro	BRA	68	4650
Gutierrez,Pablo	ESP	69	4609
Moura,Paulo	BRA	70	4602
Bettero,Hizunome	BRA	71	4550
Lipke,Marlon	DEU	72	4476
Roberts,Gavin	ZAF	73	4388
Dunn,Ben	AUS	74	4356
Rebiere,Eric	FRA	75	4245
Gossmann,Shaun	AUS	76	4244
Gudauskas,Tanner	USA	77	4226
Wilkinson,Matt	AUS	78	4019
Yeomans,Nathan	USA	79	4007
Carroll,Nathan	HAW	80	3938
Zubizareta,Gony	ESP	81	3932
Souza,Adriano de	BRA	82	3931
Costa,Danilo	BRA	83	3925
Flores,Jeremy	FRA	84	3913
Turner,Darren	AUS	85	3863
Curran,Nathaniel	USA	86	3857
Hansen,Bobby	NZL	87	3832
O'Rafferty,Darren	AUS	88	3800
Trekinho,Marcelo	BRA	88	3800
Lacomare,Marc	FRA	90	3763
Gudauskas,Dane	USA	91	3738
Faria,Junior	BRA	92	3725
Robertson,Adam (Vic)	AUS	93	3681
Hobgood,Damien	USA	94	3675
Gaskell,Hank	HAW	95	3651
Tajima,Teppei	JPN	96	3644
Bortoletto,Antonio	ZAF	97	3632
Ribas,Victor	BRA	98	3626
Nicol,Yadin	AUS	99	3588
Melling,Adam	AUS	100	3581

Click here to view the full WQS ratings after the Mr Price Pro

Previous reports:
# 1 : The Mr Price Pro returns to Durban South Africa this July
# 2 : Top women will hit Durban for Mr. Price Pro competition
# 3 : Mr. Price Pro moves location to New Pier's epic sandbar
# 4 : Wildcards announced for this year's Mr. Price Pro WQS

# 5 : Mr Price Pro sees 8 surfers advance in gale force winds
# 6 : Shaun Payne fires off the starting blocks at Mr Price Pro
# 7 : Mr Price Pro sees five Saffas in the money at New Pier
# 8 : Mr Price Pro - Dane Reynolds nabs highest heat score

# 9 : Mr Price Pro suffers bad surf: Smith out Winter stays in
# 10 : Nikita Robb, Stacey Guy tromp poor surf at Mr Price Pro
# 11 : South Africans can't while top seeds can at Mr Price Pro
# 12 : Josh Kerr & Jihad Khodr stake their claim for finals slots

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