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Occy's Grom Comp - Day 4
07/7/2009
AUSTRALIA’S top young surfers stepped up today in the Billabong Occy Grom Comp at Duranbah Beach, setting the scene for an action packed final day.
The much anticipated semi-finals of the U/12 Boys division delivered some outstanding individual performances, lead by Jeames Young (Yamba/Nth Coast NSW) and Kai Hing (Wurtulla/Sunshine Coast), who both convincingly won their respective semi-finals.
Young’s smooth, powerful backhand style saw him capture victory over highly rated Western Australian surfer Jack Robinson, who also advanced through to tomorrow’s final in second place.
However, the biggest surprise of the day was in semi-final two of the U/12 Boys, where Kai Hing (Sunshine Coast) convincingly defeated Californian wonder-kid Kanoa Igarashi.
“I just focused on getting the right waves and particularly tried to get a good score on the board early and build on that,” said Hing
“The final is going to be great….all the finalists have been scoring big throughout, so whoever wins will need to surf really well,” he said.
Today’s variable swell saw a number of surfers struggle with inconsistent waves, while other heats enjoyed a flurry of competitive rides.
The heat of the day belonged to the first semi-final of the U/16 Girls division, which saw a seesawing, three-way battle between top seed Tyler Wright (Lennox Head/Nth Coast NSW), Coolangatta’s Brodie Doyle and Kingscliff (NSW) surfer Cody Kline.
Wright was in third place for the majority of the heat, but showcased her patience and experience to find a 7.83 ride to go along with a 9.17 on her final wave - to take the heat.
Brodie Doyle came from third place to steal second with the day’s top scoring ride of 9.73 which relegated Cody Kline to third place and ending her campaign.Semi-final two of the U/16 Girls, saw Victorian standout Nikki Van Dijk win a close heat, narrowly defeating local girl Sarah Mason (Coolangatta), who also qualified for tomorrow’s final.
Tomorrow’s final day will be huge, beginning with round two heats of the U/16 Boys before running into the finals of all the divisions throughout the afternoon. Surfing Queensland event hotline, 07 3030 6388, will be updated each day by 6:30am with exact event details.The Billabong Occy Grom Comp is made possible through the support of Billabong, Sony, Virgin Blue, VW, Surfing Queensland and Mark Occhilupo.
The events official website with heat draws, photos and news also updated daily - www.surfingqueensland.com.au Related News
Lennox Head Surfer Tyler Wright Carving Her Way Into The Final Of The U/16 Girls Division