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It was all going to plan for Zeke Lau in his elimination round today, as he lead his heat against Leo Fioravanti and Rio Waida with 20 seconds remaining. Then a wave rolled through Sunset and Rio paddled for it with priority (what he thought) and was surprisingly dropped in on by Zeke. Both surfers were throwing hands like pizza makers in disbelief to the priority judging tower – that’s right, one separate judge has the responsibility of determining who has priority so the other five can concentrate on the scores.
Watching on, most people were like, “What was Zeke thinking?” After the incident was scrutinised, it was was called an interference and an enraged Zeke Lau was ultimately eliminated from the comp. While the broadcast showed that Rio had priority, from the water, it was a different perspective.
It’s easy to run with the line that Zeke didn’t even need to go for the wave as he was safely in first place. In the booth Kaipo claimed, “Zeke didn’t need to be that aggressive.” But the WSL priority judge had a role to play in the confusing incident too. Fellow heat competitor and good friend, Leo Fioravanti, pointed out that Zeke had priority until ten seconds before the incident occurred. The Pipe Masters runner-up shared his perspective in the post-heat interview, and suggested that Zeke was actually trying to help Leo hold-down second and advance alongside him.
“So.. I know Zeke was being a good friend, staying close to Rio for me. But it was weird, so Zeke paddled for a wave with like two and half minutes to go, but he paddled and not really, so it’s one of these calls that they could take away priority from him or not. And the judges didn’t take priority away from him. So he thought he had first priority. And about a minute and a half later, with 30 seconds to go, I guess the judges watched it back and changed the priority, which was a really late call.”
“I tried to yell out to Zeke and tell him not to go, because I just realised right went that wave came; I looked back that somehow the judges switched just as he was paddling.
“I feel so bad for Zeke; that was a tough call.”
As a former Sunset champ on the QS, we had Zeke doing well here and I’m sure he was eying a finals day result. It’s a tough situation and just like a political centrist says, “I can see both sides”. After a lacklustre Pipe result, Zeke will now need to perform exceptionally well in the next three events to avoid being a victim of the cut like last year.
Another unusual situation, with a more positive undertone, was Yago Dora who nabbed one of the best rides of the day with an aerial on a left-hander.6.83 with a left-hander. Yes, a left at Sunset.
Ride of the day went to Ian Gentile whose solid rail game nabbed him a 7.67. It’s great to see the revived phenom with a CT jersey on. The rookie will need to be on his A-game when he takes on John Jon in the round of 32.
Meanwhile the two Aussie Jackhammers (Robbo and Baker) narrowly made it past wildcard Kai Lenny in their must-win heat.
ROUND OF 32 MATCH-UPS
