Photography: Carlos Pinto
Just as the beginning of the waiting period for the Allianz ASP World Junior — which takes place in Ribeira d’Ilhas between the 25th of October and the 2nd of November — approaches us, the heats for the world final of the WCT Junior have been released.
Tomás Fernandes (pictured), an athlete of the Ericeira Surf Clube (ESC) invited to participate in the championship, will start the competition on heat 7 facing off the japonese Hiroto Ohhara, one of the competitors to keep an eye on during the tournament, and Matthew McGillivary, from South Africa.
On the women’s competition, Carina Duarte (also from ESC) will compete against Chelsea Tuach, from Barbados, and Miluska Tello, from Peru, right on the first heat of the category.
As for the remaining portuguese competitors, emphasis for Vasco Ribeiro, the champion of the European Pro Junior Circuit and the seed no. 3 in the competition, who will face at the heat 10 the south african Slade Prestwich and the brazilian Matheus Navarro, who substitutes the fellow countryman Amando Lins on the entrants list.
João Kopke (who was awarded a last-minute wild-card) will face Miguel Tudela, from Peru, and the australian Soli Bailey, the Australasia regional champion and one of the main title contenders, on heat 2.
Miguel Blanco, who enters the competition on the heat 11, will face another japonese surfer well placed for title hopes, Hiroto Arai, and the south-african Joshe Faulkner.
Finally, on the women’s category, Teresa Bonvalot will compete against the australian Keely Andrew — a contender for the title — and the brazilian Yanca Costa on heat 3.
Again missing from this year’s WCT Junior finals is Filipe Toledo. The brazilian which participates on the ASP’s world circuit, and who was competing in Peniche for the Moche Rip Curl Pro, claimed that bureaucratic problems forced him to return to Brazil and to be absent from the tournament. He had already missed last year’s edition due to injury.
The australian Matt Banting, who has led the WQS ranking for almost all season, is yet another major absentee from the competition.
The brazilian Italo Ferreira and the italian Leo Fioravanti, no. 1 and 2 seeds respectively, are the main title contenders, although Vasco Ribeiro also presents strong arguments on challenging the victory.
The australians Cooper Chapman, Jacob Willcox and Soli Bailey, together with the north-americans Parker Coffin, Cam Richards and Kanoa Igarashi, the japonese Hiroto Arai and Hiroto Ohhara, the costa-rican Noe Mar McGonagle and the hawaiian brothers Joshua and Seth Moniz are surfer to watch closely throughout the competition, as any of these are capable of conquering the final prize.
The championship has a waiting period of eight days, starting on the 25th of October and ending on the 2nd of November, and the press conference for the beginning of the tournament is scheduled for Saturday, at 11 a.m., on the Ribeira d’Ilhas VIP Lounge.
This press conference is inserted on the celebrations for the third anniversary for the “Ericeira, World Surfing Reserva”, and includes the unveilling of the commemorative plaque and the opening of the celebratory exhibition.
Esta publicação também está disponível em | This article is also available in: Portuguese (Portugal)
