Mr. Price Pro

ASP 6 Star WQS Men's Event #19
ASP 5 Star WQS Womens Event #7
North Beach Durban South Africa
29 June - 26 July 2008

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

Silvana Lima defeats Pauline Ado to win Mr Price Pro

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 5 July, 2008 : - - Durban -- Extraordinary Brazilian surfer, former ASP World No. 3 Silvana Lima (Rio De Janeiro) won the 5-Star ASP Women’s World Qualifying Series Mr Price Pro, defeating 2006 European Junior Champion Pauline Ado (Fra) to become the second ever Brazilian women’s champion at Durban’s New Pier, today.

Posting the only perfect ten point rides seen in either the Men’s or Women’s events, Lima advanced into the Finals where she proved unstoppable against 17-year-old school girl Pauline Ado.  Defeating her European opponent with 17.83 points to Ado’s 13.10 (out of 20.00), Lima earned R28 000 and jumped from 50th to 20th on the ASP World Qualifying Series ratings.

"I'm really, really feeling good,” Lima said in broken English. “Thanks to God, thanks to my friends, thanks to everybody from Brazil and everyone from here. I feel awesome!"

Arguably one of the most radical female surfers on tour, Lima wowed Durban beach-goers with her explosive surfing style defeating WQS No. 1 Sally Fitzgibbons (Bra) in the Quarterfinals and WQS No. 7 Bruna Schmitz (Bra) in the Semifinals. Lima went on to seal her 2008 Mr Price Pro victory off a pair of near perfect scores, a 9.33 and 8.50 (both out of ten) in the final.

“I think that Brazilians do so well here because the waves are very similar to what we have at home,” Lima said. “The waves are really good here in Durban and I love competing at this event.”  Winning the 5-Star WQS in Brazil prior to competing in Durban, Lima said it would be one of her last WQS events this year as she returns her focus to top tier competition on the ASP Women’s World Tour.

Ado finished with her career best result, placing runner-up in her second ever WQS competition, to earn R14 000 and jump to 42nd on the WQS ratings. “I'm so happy I made the final,” Ado said. “When I came here I wasn't expecting such a good result, I just wanted to get some experience so that I can try to qualify on the WQS next year.”

Ado defeated European Junior Champion Lee Ann Curren (Fra) in the Semifinals and South African Roseanne Hodge (EL) in the Quarterfinals, making a big impression in Durban.  “The final was amazing, I knew it would be tough to beat Silvana who was just amazing, she was just ripping the whole event,” Ado said.

Reaching the Quarterfinals were South Africans Rosy Hodge (El) and Heather Clark (PortShep) who finished equal fifth overall when they were eliminated by Schmitz and Ado respectively. Sally Fitzgibbons and former ASP World Tour campaigner Laurina McGrath (Aus) also ended their campaigns in equal fifth places.

The five South African men who advanced into today’s Round of 24 were reduced to just three, with Travis Logie (Dbn), Jordy Smith (Dbn) and Greg Emslie (El) taking command of the small surf to earn their spots in the critical final day of competition tomorrow.

World No. 35 Travis Logie was the first ‘saffa’ to come through for his home crowd. The pint sized New Pier local has been one of the few South Africans to make a mark at the event reaching the quarters, semis and finals over the years and advanced today with a 10.77 heat total defeating Odirlei Coutinho (Bra) and Antonio Bortoletto (Dbn).

“I’m really stoked, it's been my dream to win this event,” Logie said. “I've come so close before and I'm not going to rest until I do win this thing so I'll keep surfing it until I do, it's an amazing event that I just can't wait for it to come around every year.”

His small frame arguably better suited to the smaller conditions, Logie also employed some clever tactics, holding Bortoletto off one of the last waves of the heat, eliminating his fellow South African from the event.

“I had to win ugly,” Logie said. “Today it was a little tougher so I just tried to catch as many waves as possible and then got a bit ruthless, but you do what you can to win and I'm sure any hard feelings will stay in the water. Now I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.”

Greg Emslie, who advanced in second place behind heat winner Jordy Smith, shared similar sentiments after holding off Australian surfer Adam Melling in order to secure his runner-up spot. “It was more of a job out there, it wasn't any fun,” Emslie said. “I had to hassle Adam, one of my good mates, at the end. Two South Africans are through but I hate having to hassle.”

The international contingent looked particularly impressive, with Morrocon surfer Abdel El Harim dominating the lefthanders with a flawless performance that earned him a 17.50 heat total defeating Neco Padaratz (Bra) and eliminating South Africa’s Royden Bryson (El) from the event.

Australians Corey Ziems and Kirk Flintoff whipped out excellent 8 and 9-point rides to win their respective heats convincingly, setting themselves up to become major threats for the final day tomorrow.  The Mr Price Pro draws to a dramatic completion tomorrow with the Men’s final at 14h45 seeing the winner earn R105 000 while second place takes home R51 807.  

RESULTS

Mens Round of 24
Heat 1: Corey Ziems (AUS) 16.00; Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.36; Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 7.33
Heat 2: Pedro Henrique (BRA) 14.67; Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.67; Sunny Garcia (HAW) 11.83
Heat 3: Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.77; Odirlei Coutinho (BRA) 10.60; Antonio Bortoletto (ZAF) 5.83
Heat 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 12.67; Greg Emslie (ZAF) 11.36; Adam Melling (AUS) 9.00
Heat 5: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 14.50; Nathan Yeomans (USA) 12.10; Brett Simpson (USA) 12.07
Heat 6: Abdel El Harim (MAR) 17.50; Neco Padaratz (BRA) 13.37; Royden Bryson (ZAF) 13.10
Heat 7: Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.56; Drew Courtney (AUS) 10.16; Ben Bourgeois (USA) 5.36
Heat 8: Kirk Flintoff (AUS) 15.30; Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.17; Nic Muscroft (AUS) 5.92

Womens Quarterfinals:
Heat 1: Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 14.00; Heather Clark (ZAF) 13.34
Heat 2: Silvana Lima (BRA) 18.93; Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 12.67
Heat 3: Pauline Ado (FRA) 13.26; Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 12.44
Heat 4: Lee Ann Curren (FRA) 13.83; Laurina McGrath (AUS) 13.67

Womens Semis:
Heat 1: Silvana Lima (BRA) 17.67; Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 7.84
Heat 2: Pauline Ado (FRA) 12.83; Lee Ann Curren (FRA) 8.17

Womens Final:
Silvana Lima (BRA) 17.83 ; Pauline Ado (FRA) 13.10

Previous reports:
# 1 : Durban's Mr Price Pro preps for action, celebrates year 40
# 2 : Mr. Price Pro welcoming Shaun Tomson back to Durban..
# 3 : Juniors to kick off South Africa's 6-Star WQS Mr Price Pro

# 4 : David Weare favoured South African for the Mr. Price Pro 
# 5 : ASP 6 star Mr. Price Pro WQS event goes live at New Pier 
# 6 : Women to compete on international stage at Mr Price Pro 

# 7 : Mr Price Pro Junior to kick off in punchy one-metre waves
# 8 : Joubert & Buitendag take top honours at Mr Price Pro Jnr
# 9 : Wildcards poised for battle at South Africa's Mr Price Pro

# 10 : Sally Fitzgibbons on fire at the Mr Price Pro South Africa
# 11 : Australia, Brazil lead international charge at Mr Price Pro
# 12 : Saffa girls go big at Mr Price Pro: Brazil strong in men's

# 13 : Local surfers shine on Day 4 at Mr Price Pro South Africa
# 14 : South Africans march into final weekend of Mr. Price Pro

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