Raditya Rondi Wins
Men’s Open and Yasnyiar Gea Takes Women’s Win at 2012 Taiwan Open of Surfing
19 November 2012,
Jinzun Harbor-Taitung County: In an exciting climax to a spectacular three
days of competitive surfing at the 2012 Taiwan Open of Surfing Taitung County
yesterday, Indonesia’s Raditya Rondi posted his second consecutive ASC Men’s
Open victory of the 2012-2013 tour season by besting Australian Dean Brady in a
riving 23 minute man-on-man final, winning the largest single division prize
money prize of $75,000 NTD ($2,500 USD) so far on the ASC tour and in the
biggest surfing competition every held in Taiwan.
“I’m so happy to have won this event today,” said Rondi
after hearing that Brady’s final wave score wasn’t enough to take the victory
away from him. “Thanks to my
sponsor Billabong for sending me here and thanks to the Taitung government and
the ASC for putting on such a great surf contest. I’ve had such a great time here, surfing and meeting all the
local people, and eating great food.
Thanks for all of this!”
Rondi, who was recently crowned the 2012 Indonesian Surfing
Championship Men’s Open Champion and already has two Asian Surfing Championship
Men’s Open titles to boast about, was up against a formidable opponent in Dean
Brady, who was one of Australia’s top ranked Pro Junior surfers and is now an
internationally known free surfer.
“I was really lucky to get a couple of good waves at the
beginning of the heat to take the lead,” explained Rondi. “I had seen Brady take out Marlon and
then Tipi in the previous heats, and even though he is a big guy he can really
surf small waves super good, so I knew it wouldn’t be easy to win. I was getting nervous in the middle of
the heat because there weren’t many good waves coming through, then near the
end I got a good wave of 6.5 points so I started to feel more relaxed. But then just a minute from the end
Brady got that one wave and smashed it….so coming in we both didn’t know if it
was enough to beat me or not, so I was really nervous again!”
Both competitors and the spectators waited in anticipation
for the scores to come down from the judges tower, the ASC Director Tipi Jabrik
announced that Brady’s score came up just 1 point short, as he needed a 7.2
point score but earned only a 6.2.
“That was great fun, win or lose. I was happy to be in the final for sure.” Said Brady. “Raditya was surfing so
well all through the whole event, he certainly deserved to win. I fell just short, but if I hadn’t got
that last wave it would have been way short, so I feel better about that. On
the beach before the start we both high fived and I gave him a hug and we both
agreed to just go out there and have fun, and we did that. I think we gave the
guys on the beach a good show too, and it was a pretty great way to end a super
fun three days here in Taiwan.”
In the Women’s Open Division it was 5-time Indonesian
Women’s champion and 2-time Asian Women’s champion Yasnyiar “Bonne” Gea (IND) who
took out her second consecutive event win of the year, just edging past Taiwan’s
Jessie Hong in the final minute.
“I’m so lucky to have gotten that last wave,” said Gea. “Jessie was leading from the start and
we all were chasing her, and I just couldn’t get another good wave until the
very end. I thought I should get a
good score because I got lots of turns in, and was so happy when it came it at
just enough.” In her final point
tally she bested Hong by a single point.
The Longboard Final was a spectacular display of both
progressive and traditional longboard surfing, with world champion Taylor
Jenson (USA), young Aussie phenom Nic Jones (AUS), 2-time Indonesian and Asian
champ Arip “Mencos” Nurhidayat, and ASP number one ranked Georgia Young showing
the Taiwanese crowd on the beach everything from Hang 5’s to Hang 10’s,
floaters, deep gouging cutbacks and re-entries, aerials, and maneuvers that
haven’t even been named yet, to draw massive rounds of applause and cheers
after every wave. Jenson won the
final matchup, scoring the event’s highest single wave score of 8.9 point (out of
a possible 10) on his final wave to the delight of the crowd.
In the Junior “Grommet” Division final (16 years of age and
under), Australia’s Harry Bryant wowed the crowd with his impressive ‘go for
it’ style, taking first place over Rory MacDonald (TWN), Taitung local Wang
Zhen Ming “Monkey”, and Wolf Wertheimer (USA). “I wish the waves had been a bit better for me in the final”
said Harry. “I really wanted to do
some big airs and try a bunch of different things, but I just couldn’t get the
right waves. But it was so great
just to be here, I’m so stoked about the place, the people, the food and
everything!”
In Noserider Pro Invitational final, the remaining 5
noseriding specialists from the original 16 that started the competition on
Friday (a mix of competitors from Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan and the USA) paddled
out to see who could wrap their toes over the nose of their boards the longest
and most often and come home with the big winner’s check. It was not a big surprise that Taylor
Jenson took out the final, as he had won every heat since the first day, and
was a star attraction on the beach as well as in the water, as many of the
Taiwanese surfers are avid longboarders. When asked about his experience so far, Jenson
replied, “This is my first time to the Taitung area, so I didn’t know what to
expect with the whole event. I was surprised at how many people there were here
and how big the set up was. It
seems like longboarding is pretty popular here too, probably because the waves
can be a bit slow and a touch flat, which lends itself well to
longboarding. Plus most people
learn on longboards and surfing is relatively new here. I really had fun out here and I’m stoked
to be here.
At the awards presentation held the evening after the day’s
finals had been concluded, Taitung governor Jason Huang thanked the
competitors, the judging panel, the ASC, and the event organizers for their
support and hard work at making the event such a great success, and promised to
continue to support the growth of surfing in Taiwan. He was very impressed by the surfing he witnessed, saying,
“Being able to watch you perform, right here in Taitung, is a wonderful
experience, for me and all the local people. I think they have only ever seen anything like this on You
Tube or TV or on the internet. So
this is a very meaningful event and I thank you for your participation and your
support in making this event a big success. Next year we will be doing it again and I hope to see you
here,” which drew a big round of applause.
ASC Director Tipi Jabrik in his speech complemented Governer
Huang saying, “This place is really special, so natural, the water so clear.
That’s the reason people want to come here to surf. And another thing that is really special. Wherever you go for a surfing
competition, you will never see the governor going to the contest site. You should feel really honored to have
the governor coming and checking if everything is ok. It’s a great sign that the government really does care about
surfing, so we’re looking forward for great things in Taiwan’s surfing future.”
The 2012 Taiwan Open of Surfing was an Ultima grade Asian
Surfing Championship sanctioned surfing competition, sponsored by the Taitung
County government, with total prize money of the NTD 600,000 (USD $20,000) in
prize money across the Men’s Open, Women’s, Open, Longboard Open, Juniors, and Noserider
Pro Invitational divisions, which is the biggest prize purse ever offered in a
surfing event in Taiwan.
To see video highlights from the event:
To check out the heat draws, heat scores, photos and videos
of the 2012 Taiwan Open of Surfing, check Asian Surfing Championship on
Facebook and www.asiansurfingtour.com
2012 Taitung Open of
Surfing Contest Results:
ASC Men’s Open
Division
1 - Raditya
Rondi (IND)
2 - Dean Brady(AUS)
Equal 3rd – Tipi Jabrik (IND) and Rathu Suargita
(IND)
ASC Women’s Open
Division
1 – Yasnyiar Gea (IND)
2 – Jessie Hong (TWN)
3 – Georgia Young (AUS)
4 – Michaela Partin (USA)
ASC Longboard Open
Division
1 – Taylor Jenson (USA)
2 – Nic Jones (AUS)
3 – Arip Nurhidayat (IND)
4. Georgia Young (AUS)
ASC Junior Division
1 - Harry Bryant (AUS)
2 – Rory MacDonald (TWN)
3 – Wang Zhen Ming (TWN)
4 – Wolf Wertheimer (USA)
Noserider Pro
Invitational
1 – Taylor Jenson (USA)
2 – Nic Jones (AUS)
3 – Chiou Chong Hong (TWN)
4 – Rosie Locke (AUS)
5 – Cheng Tung-Ming (TWN)
Special Recognition
Awards from the Judging Panel
Best Attitude and Enthusiasm – Wang Chen Ming “Monkey” (TWN)
Most Stylish Shortboard Surfer – Marlon Gerber (IND)
Most Unique and Innovative Longboard Style – Arip “Mencos”
Nurhidayat (IND
Asian Surfing Championships
Tim Hain – Media and Communications
About the Asian Surfing
Championships
The
Asian Surfing Championships began in 2011 with the mission of growing the sport
of surfing in South East Asia from the grassroots level by assisting each
country in organizing professional surfing events that will develop the skills
of their surfers in healthy competition as well as to draw attention to their
area for the progression of surfing locally, nationally, and throughout the SEA
area.
Organized
surfing competitions have historically been the best medium for the development
of surfers and for the sport of surfing, where learning how to compete fairly
and to being disciplined in training and competition are key skills needed not
only for surfing but also for life.
The ASC works with the local, national and
multinational event sponsors and organizers to maximize the results of these
competitive surfing events towards accomplishing the goals of sharing the sport
of surfing and bringing positive economic, social, and environmental benefits
to the people in these South East Asian countries. See more at http://www.asiansurfingtour.com
--
Tim Hain
Media and Communications
Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championship Tour - Asian Surfing Championship Tour
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