Royal Rumble Continues At 2008 ISA World Masters Surfing Championship

(Thursday 3rd, April 2008): THE world’s hottest surfers aged 35-years and over continued their royal rumble on day four of the 2008 ISA World Masters Surfing Championships, raising the high performance bar in easing 2-metre point break waves at Punta Rocas, Peru.

Following yesterday’s repercharge rounds, competitors hit the water for the main qualifying rounds of the Masters (Over 35), Grand Masters (Over 40), Kahunas (Over 45), Grand Kahunas (Over 50) and Women’s Masters (Over 35) divisions.

Team South Africa, winners of the team gold medal at the inaugural ISA World Masters Surfing Championships at Puerto Rico in 2007, dominated today’s round with Marc Wright (Kahunas), Nick Pike (Kahunas), Andre Malherbe (Grand Masters), Chris Knutsen (Grand Kahunas) and Heather Clark (Master Womens) all netting big wins in their respective divisions.

South Africa's Andrew Malherbe tames
the Punta Rocas line-up en route to
top scoring on day four of competiton

East London charger Andre Malherbe was in a class of his own in the powerful, overhead conditions, notching today’s highest individual wave score and combined heat score to setoff a South African whitewash of the day’s surfing action.

Malherbe utilised his exciting competition repertoire to beat Brazil’s former world tour surfer Jojo De Olivenca, Peru’s Koki Vilaran and France’s Pierre Lagarde in convincing fashion.

Showing no signs of nerves in the highly anticipated round three heat, Malherbe locked in a 8.5 before jagging a near perfect 9.5 to finish with a two-wave combined total of a 18.00 (out of a possible 20).

“It was good to get a good win under my belt and be one step closer to the final,” said Malherbe.

“I’m so exited about the prospect of making my first final. I was in the Masters division last year, so I’m ready to go hard in my round four heat. I’m looking forward to it.”

Brazil's former world tour surfer Jojo De
Olivenca unleashes a big move in round
three of the Master's division

He’ll now meet his brother David Malherbe, Peru’s Magoo De La Rosa along with Jo Jo De Olivenca in round four of the Grand Masters division, after all three progressed past their round three heats.

Heather Clark, the 2001 Hawaiian Triple Crown champion and undisputed ‘Queen’ of South African women’s surfing, also looked in good touch, backhand blasting her way past Peru’s Rocio Larranga and Puerto Rico’s Beck Taylor to setup a round three Masters Women’s showdown with Australia’s Sandra English, who also recorded a win today.

Australia’s Rob Page and Jay Sharpe, Peru’s Titi De Col and Puerto Rico’s Jaun Ashton, were the first four surfers through to round four of competition today after advancing through their qualifying round three Masters heats this morning.

The ‘Old Boys’ of the world surfing scene showed that they hadn’t lost any of their surfing skills, tearing the waves of Punta Rocas to shreds. Jed Stone (UK) and Chris Knutsen (South Africa) led the way, throwin’ out some classy moves to earn a round three Grand Kahuanas birth.

Meanwhile, the afternoon surfing action saw round three repercharge heats being run and won by surfers including South Africa’s Andrew Banks (Masters), Brazil’s Ricardo Toledo (Masters), Peru’s Jose De Tramontana (Kahunas), France’s Guilles Asenjo (Kahunas), Dominican Republic’s Hans Moller (Grand Kahunas), Brazil’s Roberto Cavalllero (Grand Masters) and Rob Page (Grand Masters).

Day five of the 2008 ISA World Masters Surfing Championship will commence tomorrow morning at 8am for a full day of action, before finals on Saturday 5th April, 2008.

The 2008 ISA World Masters Surfing Championships will be broadcast live on the Internet, at the ISA website, www.isasurf.org. Photos, news and results will be updated continuously throughout each day of competition.

The ISA World Masters Surfing Championship is a team competition. The nation who places highest in each division will win the gold medal in the team standings, earning the status of the best over 35 surfing country in the world. Individual standings will add points towards the team totals.

The divisions are:
Masters: Over 35 years old
Grand Masters: Over 40 years old
Kahunas: Over 45 years old
Grand Kahunas: Over 50 years old
Masters Women: Women over 35 years old

A complete team is formed by eight athletes: two Masters, two Grand Masters and two Kahunas, a Grand Kahuna and a Master Woman.

The top four finalists in each division are awarded gold, silver, bronze and copper medals, as well as the top four national teams.

Media Contact
All media interested in getting information about this event, please contact Pablo Zanocchi: pablo@isasurf.org. High resolution images will be available everyday at the disposal of the media press.

About International Surfing Association:
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for surfing, bodyboarding and surfriding. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running world championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980.

ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over 50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio, and re-elected six times since. The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Alan Atkins (Australia), Robin de Kock (South Africa), Maile Aguerre (Hawaii) and Mike Gerard (USA).

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