10 November 2015, Nemberala, Rote Island-Indonesia: In an exciting conclusion to the 2015 Rote Open International Surfing competition today, Raditya Rondi (Bali) took the Men’s Open win and the 2015 ASC Open Championship, and Rina Kitazawa (Japan) won the Women’s Division to cement her ASC Women’s Championship for 2015.
Rondi started the day in a tight race with last year’s ASC Open Champion Dede Suryana, and managed to down 2010 Indonesian Champion Putra Hermawan and previous Rote Open winner (2010) in Quarterfinal 1, then 15 year old supergrom Rio Waida in Semifinal 1, before stopping a charging Darmaputra Tonjo in the final, who had just taken down Suryana in Seminfinal 2.
Suryana would have only had to be one heat win ahead of Rondi to take the championship title, as he was only a few points behind, but Rondi was relentless in picking off the best waves and scoring big points in each of his matchups.
When asked what he thought of his chances of both winning the event and the championship he replied, “I really thought my chances weren’t good, that I would lose to Putra in the quarterfinals. He had knocked me out in the last contest in Taiwan, so I was really nervous going up against him here in Rote. Luckily the best waves seemed to come to me though, so I got through. Then in the semi against Rio I sat a bit inside and got two good scores, while he was further outside and didn’t really get any good ones, so I got lucky I guess. When it came to the final, the waves were a bit difficult with the wind coming up, but I had nothing to lose so I went for that backside air that got me a good score, and that pretty much won it for me. I really feel great about being the champion and winning the event especially here. I got second last time I was here in 2011, so this place has been good to me…so thanks again Rote!”
In the Women’s Division it was 2013 ASC Women’s Champion 21 year old Rina Kitazawa from Japan regaining the title she lost in 2014 to Indonesia’s Yasnyiar “Bonne” Gea, as well as filling her wallet with the first place Rp 10 million cash prize for the event win over runner up 14 year old Taina Izquierdo from Bali.
This was Kitazawa’s first trip to Rote, and she was stoked to add another event win to her resume as well as another ASC Championship. “I really like this place, the beautiful sand, waves, and it’s so nice an natural. So I’ve really enjoying the competition,” she said. “In the final the waves were not so easy to surf, and I was up against Taina who beat me in Taiwan a few weeks ago, so I knew it would be a hard final, so that makes winning it extra good. And I’m so happy to be ASC champion again, so when I go back to Bali after this I will celebrate!” she added.
After the closing speeches and awards presentations on the beach, event organizer Mr. Yanto Kore Mega was asked to share his feelings about how the event turned out.
“We’re really happy about how everything came together in a relatively short period of time and turned out very well. We got a great group of participants and were blessed by great surf, and we really thank the ASC for all their support to us as an event organizer. If they didn’t help us and sanction the event, it wouldn’t have been much of a competition, so we hope that next year together we can do an even bigger and better event. We heard in the Vice Regent’s speech today that he promised continued support for the event, so we’re really happy to hear that and we’ll start making plans now for next year, as we want to get more international participants and attendees,” said Yanto.
To view the highlights of the Rote Open 2015 at Bo’a Beach by Indo Inc’s Sean Gilhooley, click this link:
Day 3 Finals:
Part 1
Part 2
Women
Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ey1-BcoMug&feature=youtu.be
Day 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3iDaEjDV2I&feature=youtu.be
Contest Results:
Men’s Open
1: Raditya Rondi (Bali) – Rp 15,000,000
2: Darmaputra Tonjo (Bali) – Rp 10,000,000
Equal 3rd: Dede Suryana (West Java) – Rp 7,500,000 and Rio Waida (Bali-Japan) – Rp 7,500,000
Women’s
1. Rina Kitazawa (Japan) – Rp 10,000,000
2. Taina Izquierdo (Bali-PR) – Rp 7,500,000
Equal 3rd: Dyah Rahayu Dewi (Bali) – Rp 4,000,000 and Allesandra – Rp 4,000,000
Highest Placing Local Surfers (into Round 3)
Mus Ely – Rp 1,000,000
Ady Lenggu – Rp 1,000,000
The 2015 Rote Open was an ASC Grade 2 event with a total prize purse of Rp 62,500,000 (approximately $4,500 USD) between the Men’s Open and Women’s Open divisions.
The 2015 Rote Open International Surfing Competition was sponsored by the Tourism Department of NTT, the Tourism Department of Rote, Bo’a Beach Resort & Villas, Nemberala Beach Resort, Bintang Beer, Bank NTT, Sunbrella, and sanctioned by the Asian Surfing Championships.
For more information you may contact:
Yanto Kore Mega
Bo’a Beach Resort & Villas
Tel: +6282147372131
Email: [email protected]
Tim Hain
Asian Surfing Championships
Tel: +628123606674
Email: [email protected]
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About the Asian Surfing Championships (ASC)
The Asian Surfing Championships was established in 2010 as the progression of the highly successful Indonesian Surfing Championships that began in Bali, Indonesia in 2004. The mission of the ASC is to develop and progress the sport of surfing in Asia by assisting in the organizing and sanctioning of professional surfing events, which will help their growing surf communities and draw more attention to their areas for the progression of surfing locally, nationally, and throughout all of the Asian Region.
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