J-Bay’s Lightfoot gives Africa squad first victory

JEFFREYS Bay surfer Dylan Lightfoot posted the first success by an Africa squad member when he won the final heat of round one on Monday to advance directly to round three at Ribeira d'Ilhas in Portugal.

Lightfoot is a member of the squad competing in the Allianz ASP World Junior Championships. Besides crowning the junior world champions, the competition offers invaluable access into the ASP prime events next year to the top four men and two women.

The champs are contested by squads of competitors aged 20 and younger selected by the seven Association of Surfing Professionals regional offices.

Lightfoot, who likened the waves for the event to those at the Point in Jeffreys Bay, was joined in round three by ASP Africa teammate Slade Prestwich after the Durbanite out-scored Juninho Urcia in their elimination round-two encounter.

A third South African reached the last 32 when Kommetjie's Benji Brand, who is representing ASP Hawaii in the event, delivered a high-quality round-one performance to claim victory and skip the cutthroat round-two clashes that saw the demise of several of his compatriots.

Diran Zakarian (Melkbosstrand), Jordy Maree (Kalk Bay) and Jeffreys Bay's Matthew McGillivray and Joshe Faulkner all faltered in their opening duels on Sunday and were then ousted from the event in their respective round-two man-on-man heats the following day.