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Flores proved no match for Brazilian Adriano de Souza
by George Mojo
07/04/2008:// The elite tour newcomers took the 6star World Qualifying Series event at Newcastle's Merewether Beach by storm outpeforming the rest of the field to book a place in the man-on-man showdown.
Flores, who is 20 in three weeks time failed to find any kind of rhythm in the 30-minute final and eventually went down by 18 points to 9.84 after his South American opponent racked up an impressive 8.67 point ride on his first wave of the encounter.
But even before the finalists hit the water, it seemed as if the Brazilian had the psychological edge on Flores.
As both surfers were being introduced to the crowd of several thousand spectators immediately before the final, Flores said that de Souza was "the best surfer in the world in these conditions" - referring to onshore 3ft waves so often found in Brazil.
With just a couple of minutes on the clock remaining in the heat, de Souza put the result beyond doubt when the judges recorded a 9.33.
The Brazilian said he was pleased to win and was particularly pleased to beat the Reunion Island born Flores.
"I’ve tried a long time to beat Jeremy-like four times-but this time I got him in the finals," said De Souza. "To me Flores is the best in the world right now and he will be in the future.
"I have pushed myself very hard and have trained a lot this year and this win means a lot to me. Before the final started I put it in my mind I had to start really well, so I went out there and got some good waves and put the pressure on Flores. For me this event is really important and I will be back next year to defend my title," added De Souza.
A frustrated Flores said he came to Newcastle for fun, but when he made it to the final, he really wanted to win.
"I would have loved to have caught a few waves and have had a good final," he said. "I have had so many QS finals and always come second-I wouldn’t be so mad if I could have got a few waves, but there was nothing to do out there," Flores said.
Twenty-one year old de Souza announced his arrival on the world surfing stage in 2004, when he became the youngest ever surfer to be crowned the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior Champion at just 16.
The Brazilian topped that effort the following year as champion of the WQS in 2005; enough to see him qualify for the world tour in 2006.
Flores came into the event as the number one seed and first surfed in the round of 64.
The current ASP rookie of the year title holder, Flores made history last year when he became the youngest ever surfer to qualify for the elite tour.
Both finalists in the Mark Richards Pro went into today’s final having won all heats they contested at Merewether, except for the round of 16 when they both ran second.
But the internationals proceeded to turn the tables in the semi-finals on the Aussies that caused them to blemish their previously perfect tally-sheets - de Souza with the day’s highest score (18.7) took care of the Gold Coast’s Shaun Gossmann (11.67), while Flores (16.67) knocked out Byron Bay’s Jarrad Sullivan (7.90).
The last event of the Australian leg of the professional surfing tour will be held at Margaret River in Western Australia.
[Carissa Moore (in yellow) receiving the winner's prize]
[The number of high-rated Australian surf competitions are set to increase]
[Pablo Gutierrez winner of the Superbock Pro]
Hawaiian Carissa Moore won the Roxy Pro Junior surfing in her first ever contest in France
ASP International has announce the inception of their fourth regional branch, ASP Australasia
Twenty-six-year-old Pablo Guitierrez took top honours in the Superbock Pro in Portugal after defeating fellow Portugeuse surfer Eduardo Fernandes in the final
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