Kiwi’s Narrowly Lose to South Africa in SANZ Trophy

Comment Share Posted on Wednesday January 20th 2010 at 9:33 a.m. Tweet

The Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team was narrowly defeated by South Africa today (Tuesday 19th January) in the annual SANZ Trophy held at Piha Beach, Auckland. The event has been held for the past seven years and is used as a final training session in the build up to the Quiksilver World Junior Surfing Championship.

Despite winning two of the three divisions contested, the Kiwis fell a few points short of snatching the prestigious trophy back from South Africa who won the 2009 encounter.

Alex Dive and Sarah Mason were the two New Zealand victors in their respective under 18 divisions.

Other Kiwi surfers to place in the final were Alexis Poulter in third and Jayda Martin - Fitzharris in fourth in the Under 18 Girls and Ben Poulter and Elliot - Paerata Reid in the under 16 Boys who finished in third and fourth respectively.

Assistant Coach James Fowell was very pleased with the performance of the team so close to day one of the event. "The team was looking very good and a special mention must be made of Alex Dive and Sarah Mason for winning their divisions. Those two had particularly strong performances today" said Fowell.

The team will now head to Mission Bay, Auckland where the official opening ceremony will take place from 1pm on Thursday (20th January).

The 2010 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship will commence surfing action on Thursday at Piha Beach. The swell is expected to build significantly for the first three days of the event and the worlds best junior surfers are expected to put on a spectacular show.

www.isaworldjuniors.com

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