3 December 2012, Terengganu-Malaysia: In a very closely
contested battle for the ASC Men’s Open Division win, Bali’s Made Darmayasa
narrowly trumped fellow Balinese pro Garut Widiarta to take the 6 star Rip Curl
Pro Terengganu victory and his first ever ASC tour win yesterday.
Battling it out in a rainy and windy 20 minute
final were four Indonesian surfers, two from Bali and two from West Java, going
blow for blow in the smallish two-foot waves. Garut Widiarta gained
the lead early, smashing out first a 6.5 and then a 7.0 score for a 13.5 two
wave total, seeming to have the final won, while the West Javanese brothers
Sandi Selamat and Andre Julian and Made Darmayasa prowled the shifty lineup
looking for big scores, but only getting average scores.
Then at just after the mid point of the final
Darmayasa found his rhythm and posted first a 6.0 and then a 7.5 point score to
equal Widiarta’s 13.5 total. The tension in the water and the beach
was electric, as both surfers prowled the lineup looking for best wave with
which to score 6.1 points or better in order to break the tie. MC
Ajill kept the surfers all posted on the remaining time as the minutes ticked
by, also informing the crowd and the surfers that even though there was a tie
score, Darmayasa would get the win as he had the highest single wave score of
the final. In the end it seemed that fate was on Darmayasa’s side,
as the ocean failed to give up any more waves and the win was his.
“I feel so happy win this contest, so stoked,”
said Darmayasa with his wide trademark grin. “I was scared with
Garut, Sandi, and Andre out there, as they all such good surfers, really
dangerous! I had to wait and wait to get a couple of good waves, and
luckily I had a chance to do a couple of big maneuvers that got me some big
scores. I’m so lucky that Garut didn’t catch any more waves too!”
Darmayasa goes home with RM 6,000
(approximately $1,800 USD) and 3,000 Asian Surfing Championship points.
In the Women’s Open Division, it was Taiwan’s
Jessie Hong who also won her first ever ASC tour victory. “I really
had a lot of fun out there and that makes this win really special,” she
said. “At the previous two ASC comps I think I tried too hard, and
sometimes got nervous, which worked against me, so through this whole comp I
just relaxed and tried to have fun. In the final I didn’t even pay attention to
the scores or how I was doing, I just tried to find the good waves that I knew
I could surf well.” When asked about the waves conditions, she
replied, “Usually I don’t surf beach breaks that well, but somehow here at
Teregganu I found it easy and fun!”
The final day of the Rip Curl Pro Terengganu
began in sunshine and glassy 2 foot waves, but as the day progressed the clouds
gathered and the wind brought rain for the finals of the Bodyboard, Women’s,
Longboard, Masters, and Men’s Open Divisions, but that didn’t dampen the
enthusiasm of the competitors or the spectators that huddled under tents and
cheered for their favorite surfers.
The Longboard Division was won by current and
two time Indonesian and Asian longboard champion Arip “Mencos” Nurhidayat from
West Java, who quickly combo’d the field with his aggressive and impulsive
style in both traditional and progressive surfing to post the highest score of
entire event, an 8.0 out of a possible 10, to lead from start to finish and
come into the beach with the victory over Tipi Jabrik, Decha Sithidej, and
Terengganu local Khairil Doje.
In the Master’s Division, ASC President Tipi
Jabrik from Indonesia as the tour’s newest member of the 35 years of age and
older club, nabbed his first Master’s victory and now has another trophy to
find a place for on his already crowded shelf.
The Bodyboard Division was won by Ibrahim
Shiman from the Maldives, which saw two Malaysians and two Maldivians battling
it out for the victory.
Organizer and Contest Director Bryan Ng was
delighted with the results of the event, saying, “Terengganu is quite new
to surfing, so we’ve been working with the government to promote surfing in
this area as it is one of the best places to surf in Malaysia. It’s
my third year doing an event here and I think we’re making great
progress. About 5 years ago when I came here there were about local
5 surfers…now there are about 50. And this weekend we had surfers from all over
Asia coming here compete, so I’m really stoked.”
ASC Head Judge Arya Subyakto was also
impressed. “It was amazing how well the contestants performed all
during the competition,” he said. “Even in some testing conditions especially
during the low tide periods. I was particular impressed by Terengganu local
Khairil Doje’s performance in the longboard division, from my view he has great
potential and it was good to see that, given that the surf
community here is only a few years old. It was also great to see the
enthusiasm of the locals, coming to compete with the best surfers from around
Asia, and to see such a big turnout on the beach each day from the
spectators. But I have to say it was a bit different to have so many
people at the beach but so few bikini’s and boardshorts on the spectators!”
A total of 61 competitors signed up for Men’s
Open Division; 39 Malaysian, 13 Indonesian, 1 each from the Maldives, Taiwan,
Thailand, France, and England, and 1 from Singapore.
Of the 18 Women’s Division competitors, 12
were Malaysia, 3 from Indonesia, and 1 each from Taiwan, Thailand, and the USA.
The 15 Masters Division (35 years of age and
older) competitors included 8 from Malaysia, 2 from Thailand, 2 from Japan, and
1 each from Indonesia, Holland, and Australia.
The Longboard Division had 14 competitors, 9
from Malaysia, 2 from Indonesia, 2 from Thailand, and 1 from Japan, and the
Bodyboard Division had 26 competitors, 20 from Malaysia, 5 from the Maldives,
and 1 from Japan.
In conjunction with the government of
Terengganu, Rip Curl Malaysia is proud to be the first surf brand in Malaysia
to sponsor a 6-star rated ASC surfing competition with total prize money of
36,500 MYR (over $12,000 USD) across five surfing divisions; Men’s, Women’s,
Longboard, Masters, and Bodyboard, plus a Skateboard Slalom Race and various
specialty awards such as “Best Malaysian Surfer,” “Best Terengganu Local” and more. In
addition there was 22,500 MYR ($7,500 USD) worth of Rip Curl products given out
to the finalists.
With big prize money and valuable ASC
championship points on offer, the Rip Curl Pro Terengganu attracted the Asian
region’s best professional surfers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan,
and the Maldives, as well as surfers from Japan, Singapore, England and
France to compete over the weekend that was blessed by good
contestable waves, lots of Fanta drinks and Nestle ice cream for all
the spectators and competitors, sunscreen from Sunplay, surf lessons from
the Rip Curl School of Surf,surfboard shaping demonstration's by
world re-known shaper Darren Handley, and surboard painting by Laura Pabst
de Cesar. Check out the video clips below to see what went down over the
action packed three days.
Video links:
The Rip Curl Pro Terengganu 2012
was sponsored and supported by the State Government of Terengganu, Rip
Curl Malaysia, EC Extreme, the Ministry of Tourism Terengganu Office, and
Tourism Malaysia, and co-sponsored by Fanta, Nestle Drumstick and Sunplay with
Suria FM as media partner.
Rip Curl Pro Terengganu 2012 Contest Results:
ASC Men’s Open Division
1. Made Darmayasa (IDN)
2. Garut Widiarta (IDN)
3. Andre Julian (IDN)
4. Sandi Selamat (IDN)
ASC Longboard Division
1. Arip Nurhidayat (IDN)
2. Tipi Jabrik (IDN)
3. Decha Sithidej (THA)
4. Khairil Doje (MLY)
ASC Women’s Division
1. Jesse Hong (TWN)
2. Yasnyiar Gea (IDN)
3. Diah Rahayu (IDN)
4. Salini Rengganis (IDN)
ASC Master’s Division
1. Tipi Jabrik (IDN)
2. James Hendy (ENG)
3. Decha Sithidej (THA)
4. Yasuo Hirana (JPN)
Bodyboard Division
1. Ibrahim Shiman (MDV)
2. Syed El Hussain Syed Atikullah (MLY)
3. Ali Javeed (MDV)
4. Hatta Affendi (MLY)
Specialty Awards
Best Malaysian
Surfer - Mohd Didaqt
Best Junior Surfer – Mohd Shahizal
Best Surf Trick – Garut Widiarta
Best Terengganu Surfer – Azmi Awang
Terengganu Achievement Award – JC (Kit)
Best Photo Contest – 1st Chow
Chee Keunk, 2nd Mohd Radzi Abdul Kadir, 3rd Mohd
Farid
-8100.jpg)
