Sopelana Movistar Pro Day 3 - Large crowds and clean waves
Source: www.ibaworldtour.com
posted by Terry McKenna on 19th August 2007
Organizers were blessed with near perfect conditions for the third day of competition at Sopelana Beach with blue skies, large crowds and fun sized 2-3 footers being the order of the day.
"I'm really happy. This is a great day for us" said event director Gonzaga Prado.
"We have a big crowd for the contest and the waves are clean and allowing competitors a good oppertunity to score. Today the best men and women bodyboarders in the world will be on show in the Basque Country "
The event stated with the last two heats of R4 of the World Men's Tour (WMT) and then the ΒΌ finals of the Women's WWT .
The girls put on an amazing display of Pro Bodyboarding and in the first quarter local favourite Eunate Aguirre was looking on song for a semi final berth until the final minute when Aoi Koike from Japan executed a near perfect ARS (Air,roll,spin) to go from 4th to second. Eunate went down to 3rd with just seconds remaining and Aoi moved through with Chigusa Nishiyama. Brazilian Melissa Amorim finished 4th.
The second quarter final was equally as entertaining with current World Champion Marina Taylor dominating the opening stanza to move through with Japans Noriko Kawagoe. Chiaki Okuyam (JPN) was third & Catarina Sousa (PORT) forth.
In quarter 3 the current WWT ratings leader and former World Champ Neymara Carvalho (BRZ) fired off a warning shot to her fellow competitors on the WWT with an awesome display of precision riding to progress with Natasha Sgaordia (PRC). Marta Fernandes (PORT) and Isabela Sousa (BRZ) finished 3rd & 4th respectively.
In number 4 an in-form Kirra Llewellyn (AUS) blasted her way to victory over fellow Australian Lilly Pollard with Soraia Rocha (BRZ) and Helise Bourroux (FRA) eliminated.
With a large crowd and a dying swell organizers decided to run with a World Teams Challenge tag team event. Even though this was set up as a "Fun" spectacle the hour long match was hotly contested as riders swelled with pride to represent their country. In the end when the dust settled the local team represnting the Basque Country sent the crowd into a frenzy by narrowly defeating the passionate Brazilians.
Full results and Teams are as follows
| Place | Team | Colour | Riders |
| 1 | Basque | Blue | Benat Elsua
Alex Sebastian
David Perez
Eunate Agguir |
| 2 | Brazil | Orange | Eder Luciano
Luis Villar
Uri Valadao
Isabela Sousa |
| 3 | The World | Red | Mark McCarthy
Pierre Louis Costes
Jeff Hubbard
Karla Costa-Taylor |
| 4 | Spain / Canary Islands | Black | Ardiel Jimenez
Jonathan vega
Diego cabrera
Marina Taylor |
| 5 | Portugal | White | Jaime Jesus
Leandro Ferrereira
Nuno Trovao
Andreia Estrela |
| 6 | Australia | Yellow | Adam Luehmann
Andrew Lester
Michael Novy
Mandy Zieren |
The Sopelana Movistar Pro is made possible by Telephonica Movistar, Coca-Cola, Arin, ElCorreo, Seland Beach & edubartolome.com
www.ibatour.com
www.sopelanamovistarpro.com 1578 views
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