Oney Anwar (IND) exploding into the next round at the Burton Toyota Pro today. Pic ASP/Will H-S
MEREWETHER, Newcastle, NSW/Australia (Monday, February 18, 2013) – Some of surfing’s emerging young talents dominated their heats on Day 1 of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star rated Burton Toyota Pro and Hunter Ports Women’s Classic in fun 2 to 3 foot (1 Metre ) surf at Merewether today.
With both events carrying 6-Star ASP rating’s this event is crucial to surfers who are aiming to qualify for the elite ASP World Championship Tour.
Young Indonesian surfer Oney Anwar is intent on progressing as far as possible to gain as many ranking points as possible at this event and throughout this year to elevate him up the world rankings.
The 19 year-old who has resided on Australia’s Gold Coast for the last five years to enhance his professional surfing ambitions scored two excellent 8-point-rides in his Round 1 heat win today but maintains a level head after his impressive performance.
“Sure that was a great heat, fun waves and opportunities to do aerials but this is a 6-Star event and the next round will be harder and I must surf better – these are high quality events with so many great surfers and I need to keep surfing better and better” said Anwar.
“I’m focusing on all the big events this year in Australia, Europe and Mexico and it’s all about improving my rating this year – events like this one carry big points and it’s definitely important to me.”
The most impressive surfer of the 18 Round 1 heats run today was Davey Cathels (AUS) who scored an outstanding 9.27, the highest single wave score of the day in his combined two-wave total of 17.10 (out of a possible) which was the day’s highest heat tally.
“I’ve worked hard on making sure my boards are right this season and right now they feel really good” said Cathels.
“I selected my waves well out there – managed to find a really good one late heat and tagged some strong bottom to top turns so it was a good heat” added the 20 year-old from Nth Narrabeen in Sydney.
Six heats of the opening round of the Hunter Ports Women’s Classic opened the day and Bethany Hamilton caught most attention, narrowly getting through her heat in second place behind Quincey Davis (USA).
“It was tricky and quite small out there – I’m stoked to get through that opening round ” said Hamilton.
Top seeds come into both Men’s and Women’s divisions in Round 2 and the pressure increases significantly as today’s surfers who progressed through Round 1 face some seriously experienced and talented surfers from around the world.
Number one seeds are current ASP World Champions Joel Parkinson and Stephanie Gilmore. Parkinson is scheduled to surf his opening round on Wednesday morning first heat of the day at 7:30am and Gilmore 10:30am tomorrow.
Joel Parkinson and Stephanie Gilmore will be available for interview to members of the media at the official Press Conference at Merewether Surfhouse, Henderson Parade, Merewether on Tuesday, February 19 at 1pm.
