Team SA clinches bronze medal in Aloha Cup at Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Champs in New Zealand

Team South Africa clinched the first of what they hope will be four medals at the 2010 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in New Zealand when the five-person tag-team squad clinched the bronze in the Aloha Cup event on Wednesday.

After convincingly winning their semifinal match-up on Tuesday and advancing to today’s final with runners-up Australia and alongside France and Hawaii from the second semi, Team SA went into the finale with high hopes. But with just 20 minutes remaining in the one hour decider, they trailed in last place and it was thanks to an inspired effort by Steven Sawyer and outstanding time management by Bianca Buitendag that they managed to overtake Hawaii and secure third place.

Sawyer, the U16 boys’ representative in the squad, surfed the fourth leg and completed his two scoring rides quickly, giving Buitendag just seven minutes to complete her two rides and get back into the team enclosure. The 16 year-old from George caught two small waves and then sprinted back up the beach, getting home three seconds before the siren sounded to avoid the 5 point penalty that would have seen SA finish in fourth spot.

The gold medal in the Aloha Cup went to Australia who fought a see-saw battle against France until their female representative, Tyler Wright, eventually sealed the deal in the final minutes and consigned the Europeans to the silver medal.

South Africa still have two team members in contention for individual medals and will be hoping that Beyrick de Vries in the U18 boys and Sarah Baum in the U18 girls reach their respective Grand Finals. Not only will this guarantee the two surfers medals, it will also boost the team tally and possibly qualify Team SA for a fourth medal in the team standings.

De Vries, the Umhlanga based team captain, delivered yet another strong display today, posting a pair of six point rides to finish second behind Tahitian Tamaroa McComb and move to within one heat of the Grand Final. A first or second place in the Round 6 qualifying stream heat tomorrow will see de Vries directly into the medals while a third or fourth place sees him drop into the repecharge rounds where he will have another chance to reach the medal heat.

Baum (Athlone Park) finds herself in the identical position, having progressed to the final heat of the girls qualifying stream two days back.

The Jeffreys Bay pair of Dylan Lightfoot and Steven Sawyer had their campaigns ended in the same heat today when they finished third and fourth respectively in Round 6 of the U16 boys’ repecharge stream and were eliminated in 13^th and 16^th place overall in their division.

The entire SA contingent will be cheering for de Vries and Baum’s every manoeuvre during tomorrow’s final day. Surfing commences at 9.00am (10pm today SA time) with video, commentary and scoring webcast LIVE at www.isaworldjuniors.com

The 2010 South African Junior Surfing Team is supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) and clothed by Quiksilver with additional support from Skullcandy and Power Balance.

See Surfing South Africa’s daily Press Release, photos and video footage focusing on the progress of the South Africans at www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za