18 June 2013, Keramas-Bali: After holding the lead for the majority of the 30 minutes in his Round 1 heat today at the ASP World Championship Tour Oakley Pro Bali at Keramas, Indonesia’s Oney Anwar was defeated in the final minutes by world number 3 Jordy Smith (South Africa) by a final score of 15.46 points (out of a possible 20) to 11.93. Onwar finished in front of Australia’s Matt Wilkenson, whose final score tallied 9.03 points.
Anwar is fresh off his Oakley Pro Bali Trials win yesterday, where he bested a field of 23 of Asia’s top pro surfers to receive a wildcard into this world championship event in his home country of Indonesia.
He started off the heat by aggressively charging the 4-5 foot Keramas waves, completing one of his patented air reverse maneuvers that earned him a 7.83 score from the judges and put him into the lead. He added another score of 4.10 for his two-wave total of 11.93, which kept him in front as the other competitors took to the air to try to pull huge airs in the sideshore wind conditions. Finally Smith hit his rhythm as time was running down and posted first a 7.13 score and then an 8.33 to win the heat with his last two wave scores.
“I was just too picky out there I think…I should have caught more waves,” said Anwar after the heat. “I was leading all the way until almost the end, so that felt good. But it’s hard when you’re up against a guy like Jordy, he is so relaxed and confident out there and can do such big maneuvers. I was confident too, just not so experienced. I remember that one wave near the end of the heat that I really wanted to take, but then I looked and the priority was white, so it was Jordy’s and he got that big score of 8 points.”
Anwar only took four waves in the heat, wheras Smith and Wilkinson each took 8.
When asked what his thoughts were looking forward to Round 2 he replied, “I don’t know who I’m up against yet but I’m glad I have another chance, and I hope I’ll do better in the next round, learning from this one. I’ll catch more waves for sure!”
Watch for Oney to take on his next challengers in Round 2, which may be on tomorrow. If you can’t make it out to Keramas to watch the Oakley Pro Bali live, you can watch the action on the webcast at www.oakleyprobali.com/live/
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