Team News

International Surfing Association
Costa de Caparica, Portugal
11 - 19 October 2008

Mixed results for SA Men on Day 2 of ISA World Surfing Games in Portugal

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 14 October, 2008 : - - Klee Strachan was South Africa’s star performer on Day 2 of the 2008 ISA World Surfing Games on Monday, winning both his Round 1 and Round 2 heats in excellent one to 1.5 metre waves at Costa de Caparica in Portugal.

Strachan, 19, from Winkelspruit, the youngest of the four men in the SA team, was joined in Round 3 of the qualifying stream by team captain Ryan Payne (St Francis Bay) who won his opening encounter and then progressed to the next round in second place behind 2004 ISA World Champion Hira Teriinatoofa (Tahiti).

After scoring a clean sweep of four heat victories in Round 1, South Africa saw two team members relegated to the grueling repecharge rounds when Devyn Mattheys (East London) and Matthew Kruger (Durban) both placed third in their respective Round 2 encounters.

Mattheys struggled to find waves with high scoring potential until the end of his heat when his final ride of 6.07 left him needing just 3.94 points to grab second place from Rugby Colmenares (Venezuela) while heat winner Steven Pierson (Tahiti) racked up scores of 7.83 and 6.73.

Kruger finished behind ISA World U16 Champion Tamaroa McComb (Tahiti) and Rafael Pereira (Venezuela) and despite scores of 6.33 and 5.20 the Durbanite still needed 5.58 to advance.

The USA, led by ASP World Tour campaigners Ben Bourgeois, the standout on Day 2, and CJ Hobgood, saw all four of their men through to Round 3 of the qualifying stream in the double elimination format. Brazil, who are represented by largely unheralded surfers none of whom are WQS or World Tour stars, are the only team to not to have any surfers, longboarders or bodyboarders in the repecharge rounds at this stage.

While Jordy Smith (Durban) proved in 2006 that it is possible to win the men’s title after dropping into the repecharge rounds in Round 2, it is a far more difficult task as there are almost twice as many repecharge rounds than qualifying stream rounds.

Tuesday’s action in Portugal includes Round 1 & 2 of the Women where SA’s Tarryn Chudleigh (Kommetjie) and Chantelle Rautenbach (Melkbosstrand) will start their quests for glory and team points. There will also be Men’s Round 3 and repecharge Round 1 along with Women’s repecharge Round 1.

The Longboarders and Bodyboarders, where SA has all four competitors in the qualifying stream, get another day off. Action from the event, which runs until Sunday 19 October, is broadcast live over the internet via wsg2008.com. The South African team's attendance at the event is supported by funding from the National Lottery Board.

Team South Africa:  www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za
# 1 : South Africa names team for ISA World Surfing Games..
# 2 : South African surf team departs for ISA Surfing Games
# 3 : South African team off to great start at ISA World Games
# 4 : Coming soon  

www.isasurf.org

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