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Brit must defeat Kinoshita to progress
by George Mojo
03/05/2007:// World Games silver medallist Ben Skinner must defeat Japan's David Kinoshita to stay in the running at the Oxbow World Longboard Championships in France.
The British champion finished in second place to Australian Harley Ingleby in his opening heat at Anglet missing an automatic third round place by one and a half points.
The Cornishman, who is the only Briton left in the contest, faces the Asian surfing ace for a place in the last 32.
The current world champion Australian Josh Constable absolutely dominated his opponent during the opening heat of the second round. Constable used his considerable size and strength, showed no nerves and looked in awesome form against young wildcard entrant Troy Mothershead, from America.
"I wasn't too nervous," said Constable after his win. "I mean there is a little pressure being the current world champ and all that, but my first wave was a good one and my plan worked well."
Constable scored a solid heat score of 16.25 points out of 20.00 and never looked like losing.
"For me it's unreal to have a little size and to surf at beachbreaks, which I love," Constable said. "I didn't feel any nerves and I surfed strong, so right now, it's all good."
Hawaiian John Snow, the man Constable beat in last year's final, surfed in the following heat.
Snow was too strong for the trials wildcard Australian Jared Neal, who had earlier defeated Sennen's Sam Bleakley.
He surfed incredibly well illustrating that both he and Constable look like favourites for a final berth again this year.
Rookie and wildcard French hopeful Antoine Delpero didn't disappoint, mixing some stylish traditional longboarding moves with radical closeout re-entries.
"I've surfed around here for a few years and I love this spot," Delpero said. "It's powerful and it is one of my favorite spots. I actually felt the pressure more yesterday, but today I caught a really good wave at the very start and from then on had no nerves."
Delpero scored a solid two-wave total of 15.25 out of 20.00 and defeated experienced Australian Grant Thomas.
The best wave of the day, and the whole competition so far, was a 9.65 scored by Brazilian Amaro Matos.
Matos took off on a solid set wave and performed a classic soul arch hang ten, before dropping down, moving his feet back, pulling into a barrel and traveling for three seconds through a classic tube.
It was probably only a fall right at the end of the wave that cost him a 10-point ride. That wave helped him overcome his opponent Alban Meric who is now eliminated from the event.
"Wow, I'm so happy," Matos said. "I was very nervous before the heat and I think so much about this heat, and I asked for God to help me and he helped with that wave. You know I am 41-years-old and my heart is too old for all this kind of thing," Matos laughed.
The judges are rewarding those surfers that combine the traditional longboard moves like putting the toes on the nose, with more modern, quickfire manoeuvres. It is a fusion of surfing's ancient heritage and all the modern day radical advances.
Former world champion and all round surfing legend Nat Young was on hand this morning, both as a patron of the event and also to watch the progress of his youngest son Bryce, who is surfing in the championship.
"The waves are incredible and with this style of surfing you really get to appreciate the style of the surfers. It is not so quick as the shortboard surfing and so you can really take it all in. It's a beautiful mix."
Cornwall's Russell Winter has had a superb start at the Buondi Billabong Pro in Portugal notching up one of the top four heat scores of the competition so far
Cornwall's Ruebyn Ash put in a superb performance to reach his second European Pro Junior final of the season
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