Paige Hareb : photo Scholtz/ASP Australasia

Team News

Paige Hareb Finishes 7th On ASP WQS - World Tour Qualification Looms

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 20 November, 2008 : - - Taranaki surfer Paige Hareb has finished 2008 ranked seventh on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) the best ranking ever by a New Zealand female.

The final event of the year - the Reef Hawaiian Pro was completed today (Friday 21st November) at Haleiwa Beach, Ohau Hawaii to finalise the year-end rankings.  The event was won by Hawaiian Carissa Moore (Haw).  Paige Hareb placed 17th.

Hareb’s ranking of seventh leaves Her outside of the crucial top six surfers that secure automatic qualification on to the ASP World Tour.  The Women’s World Tour caters for the top 18 surfers in the world. Hareb missed a top six ranking by a meagre 15 points to Bruna Schmitz who placed third in her quarterfinal heat today (ninth overall) to leap frog Hareb.

However with ASP’s duel tour format, several of the surfers ranked higher than Hareb on the WQS could qualify through their World Tour ranking.  This means that Hareb is still in with a strong chance of securing a place on the World Tour in 2009. If Hareb achieves this feat she will become the first ever New Zealand female surfer to qualify for the ASP Women’s World Tour.

There are a further two events remaining on the Women’s World Tour – the Roxy Pro (24 Dec – 6 Dec) and the Billabong Pro (8 – 20 Dec) both held in Hawaii.

There are a number of potential scenarios that could unfold.  Put simply after today’s event, four surfers ranked ahead of Hareb on the year-end WQS rankings – Rebecca Woods (7th), Silvana Lima (4th), Jessi Miley-Dyer (10th) and Jacqueline Silva (8th) are currently qualifying via the Women’s World Tour.

This means that as of now, assuming these girls stay in the Top 10 of the World Tour, that Sally Fitzgibbons, Rosanne Hodge, Bruna Schmitz, Paige Hareb and Alana Blanchard are the Top 6 on the WQS. However should one surfer drop out of the top ten on the World Tour then Blanchard misses out on qualification.  If two surfers drop out then Hareb also misses out.

Should Rosanne Hodge jump up from 13th on the Women’s Tour into the Top 10 and the other surfers also stay in the Top 10 then Coco Ho could become the 6th qualifier. The next four weeks now become an agonising waiting game for Hareb and the Kiwi surfing community to see if she can create New Zealand surfing history.

New Zealand’s Airini Mason has also finished the year with a career best 16th rank on the WQS.  This result with give Mason the platform for a great year in 2009 and potential qualification onto the World Tour.  Mason was in with a chance of qualification onto the Women’s World Tour up until her 37th placing at the event.  Mason needed to finish the final event seventh place or better.

Please see below for final rankings on the ASP Women’s WQS for 2008.

1, Fitzgibbons, Sally, AUS, 9695
2, Woods, Rebecca, AUS, 8023
3, Hodge, Rosanne, ZAF, 7815
4, Lima, Silvana, BRA, 7665
5, Miley-Dyer, Jessi, AUS, 7520
6, Schmitz, Bruna, BRA, 7300
7, Hareb, Paige, NZL, 7285
8, Silva, Jacqueline, BRA, 6845
9, Blanchard, Alana, HAW, 6820
10, Gilmore, Stephanie, AUS, 6740
11, Ho, Coco, HAW, 6690
12, McGrath, Laurina, AUS, 6645
13, Bevilacqua, Claire, AUS, 6568
14, Hamilton, Bethany, HAW, 6375
15, Enever, Laura, AUS, 6090
16, Mason, Airini, NZL, 6085

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