WITH Day 1 of the World Surfing Games in the bag, the Pinoy team stands proud, with majority of the team advancing into the second round.
At the twin breaks of La Bocana (“The Mouth”) and El Sunzal in El Salvador, John Mark “Marama” Tokong, Piso Alcala, Daisy Valdez, and Nilbie Blancada landed on the top tier of their respective heats.
Siargao’s pride Nilbie Blancada bested Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki by an extremely slim 0.04 points, carving her way to a top-scoring finish in the 12th heat.
While Daisy Valdez found herself outpaced by almost 10 points by Shino Matsuda of Japan, the La Union native still managed to snag second place in Heat 24.
And in her first ever showing in an international competition, super rookie Vea Estrellado of Sorsogon surfed her way to third in an early heat, earning her a slot in the Repechage Rounds — essentially the games' bottom bracket. Estrellado needs continuous wins to ensure advancement.
On the men’s side, Piso Alcala of Siargao secured second, with 4.9 points behind Austria’s Ryan Callinan, who was awarded 13.74. Tokong also nabbed a very close second placer, just a point behind Costa Rica’s Anthony Fillingim.
SEA Games silver medalist Jay-R Esquivel will duke it out later tonight at 10:30 p.m. in a thrilling heat that also features Australia’s Owen Wright, who has already qualified for the Olympics.
For many of the national team surfers, the SEA Games, held more than a year ago, was their last official surfing competition as the pandemic locked down sports events all over the country.
In the regional competition, Daisy Valdez scored a double bronze in both shortboard and longboard events. Tokong also secured a bronze medal, while Nilbie Blancada brought home a gold medal.
Accompanying the national team in El Salvador is La Union-based coach Ian Saguan, who is also helpfully streaming the women's heats in his Instagram page.
The World Surfing Games are surfing’s final Olympic qualifying event, and the last hope for many of the surfers there to punch tickets to Tokyo.
Nevertheless, the national team faces tough competition as they steel themselves to go toe-to-toe against some of the giants of the sport.
Tokong, in particular, is slotted into a “heat of death”, with defending World Surfing Games champion Italo Ferreira of Brazil, who garnered the highest heat total with 16.43 points in the first round.
Also matching up against Tokong is Rio Waida of Indonesia — a Balinese teenager who upstaged a two-time world surfing champion during a World Surfing League battle last May 2019.
Alcala, on the other hand, will go up against Brazil’s Gabriel Medina, who is already assured of an Olympic slot.
Should the Philippine men’s surfing contingent triumph against their very tough odds, it will instantly catapult the Philippines to top-level status in surfing... and more importantly, a strong chance of booking a ticket to Tokyo.
Five slots for men and seven for women are still open for the Olympic surfing event.
Surfing correspondent Michael Eijansantos is the founder of My Life On Board.
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