Asian Surfing Championship Awards in Bali Celebrate Asia’s 2014 ASC Surfing Champions
16 December, Kuta-Bali: The 4th annual Asian Surfing Championships Awards Video Presentation took place on Saturday, December 13th at Mantra Dine & Cocktail Bar in Bali to celebrate and congratulate Asia’s 2014 Men’s, Women’s, and Junior surfing champions.
Receiving championship awards this year were Dede Suryana (Cimaja, West Java) in the Men’s Division, Yasnyiar “Bonne” Gea in the Women’s Division, Raju Sena in the Junior Division and in a first time ASC award, Cinta Hansel in the Junior Women’s Division. Until this year the ASC has never crowned a junior (16 years of age and under) women’s champion, but due to increasing number of girls competing in junior events in 2014, it was the right time to add a junior women’s award.
Dede Suryana first hoisted a championship trophy back in 2008 as the Indonesian Surfing Champion, and can now claim his second as 2014 Asian Surfing Champion. With a big win at the Komune Bali Pro back in October, Suryana jumped into the points lead over 3 time ASC winner Raditya Rondi, and sealed the championship victory in Taiwan. In his acceptance speech he said “This is a really big award for me, and it’s been such a great year. I won the Komune Bali Pro on my birthday, my wife had our baby the day before the final, and now I’ve got the ASC championship trophy! I’m so thankful to all my sponsors like Quiksilver, Luke Studer, Camden and the others, to my family for all their support, especially my wife understanding about my traveling. Thanks to the ASC and to all that support the tour for making it possible for us to live our dreams of being pro surfers.”
2014 ASC Women’s champion Yasnyiar “Bonne” Bea (Nias, Sumatra) is certainly no stranger to the championship podium, a 6-time Indonesian Women’s Champion and now a 3-time Asian Women’s Champion. She lost her ASC title last year to Rina Kitazawa from Japan, but in the final event of the year in Taiwan got her chance and grabbed it back again.
In the Junior Division it was Raju Sena (Kuta-Bali) getting his second consecutive ASC championship trophy. He was not able to attend and accept his trophy in person, as he is currently on the North Shore of Hawaii with his Hurley teammates including Marlon Gerber and Rizal Tandjung. Accepting Raju’s award was younger brother Leo, who will no doubt be following in his brother’s footsteps climbing atop a future championship podium.
Cinta Hansel (Uluwatu-Bali) can now claim the distinction of being the first ASC Junior women’s champion, having competed in all 8 of the ASC sanctioned junior events and winning the Rip Curl GromSearch Final in Nusa Lembongan to gain the points lead and the championship. The ASC is hoping for more events and more support next year so that more awards can be added.
A full house of some 80 + surfers and Bali-based surf industry members along local friends and media enjoyed a perfect evening of camaraderie, entertainment, drinks and just plain fun, with free flow drinks courtesy of Sailor Jerry Rum and San Mig Light starting the evening at 8 pm. The drinks lasted until about 11:00, which meant everyone had just enough but not too much.
At just after 9 pm, MC Matt George from Surftime Magazine stepped up to the microphone and welcomed the crowd, then introduced the much-anticipated 2014 ASC Highlights Video masterfully prepared by Sean Gilhooley of Indo Inc Productions. Unbeknownst to him, Gilhooley has cheekily inserted clips from Matt’s historic and legendary Hollywood film “In Gods Hands”, scenes of which were filmed in Bali back in the late 1980’s, into the video, which soon had the audience whopping and clapping. Gilhooley a long time ASC supporter and the dedicated ASC Video Director, filming and producing the video highlights of each tour event in Indonesia and around Asia. This year’s quality video was a 25-minute gem, which you can see at:
2014 ASC HIGHLIGHTS
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
After the video had finished, Matt George called up ASC GM Tim Hain for a short speech and to hand the champions their awards. In his speech Hain first thanked Mantra owner and ISC/ASC founder Tipi Jabrik for all his years of commitment and dedication to the surfing in Indonesia and the Asian region, saying “If it weren’t for Tipi Jabrik we wouldn’t be here at Mantra and we wouldn’t be doing these awards, and these surfers wouldn’t be able to pursue their dreams of being pro surfers. Thanks Tipi!” Next he thanked the surfers for their participation and contributing to the sport, explaining “When working on our tour events in these Asian countries, I’m always proud to be able to say to the event organizers that the ASC will bring Asia’s best surfers to their event. Guys like Dede, Raditya, Garut, and women like Bonne, Rina, Cinta, Pua and Kai and others that put lots of time into training and practicing and going out on the road to compete. I really appreciate your efforts. And of course I also want to thank their sponsors and family for their contribution, as it is all critical to the success of the ASC and the surfers themselves.”
Following the awarding the Deep Sea Explorers took to the stage to rock Mantra from the inside out, finishing up about 11 pm, when DJ Yuki stepped in and spun tunes for the rest of the night.
The 2014 ASC tour stops were the Quiksilver Padma Challenge at Padma Beach in Bali, the Maldives Open in the Maldives, the Siargao International Surfing Cup at Cloud 9 in the Philippines, the Komune Bali Pro presented by the Mad Huey’s at Keramas, Bali, and the Taiwan Open of Surfing in Taitung, Taiwan.
A big thanks to all our sponsors for their support in this event and during the 2014 ASC year.
The 2014 ASC Awards was sponsored/supported by Mantra, the ASC, Indo Inc Productions, Sailor Jerry, Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, San Miguel, Bali Belly, The Beat, the Bali Bible, Surftime, and Bali Tonight.
All photos by Bali Tonight
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