WST/WQT Pipe Event confirmed for 2004
Source: www.ibaworldtour.com
posted by Mark Fordham on 27th October 2003
The IBA World Super Tour (WST) and World Qualifying Tour (WQT) dates for the last event to be held at Pipeline Hawaii, have been confirmed.
The last event for both the WST and WQT will be held at the infamous Banzai Pipeline, situated on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The dates will be from the 5th to the 14th January, 2004. A total of 3 days competition has been granted within the 10 day window.
With both world tours being hit hard due to political and world terrorism, especially events in Omaesaki in Japan and the Rio Super Pro in Rio de Janeiro, having these dates set will make the tours complete with the crowning of two World Champions for 2003 after the prestigious Pipeline event..
The IBA World Super Tour started this year with a proposed 5 event tour. With the Human Teahupoo Challenge and the Human Cronulla Shark Island Challenge completing the first stage of the tour, the third event scheduled for Brazil, being the Rio Super Pro was cancelled at the last minute by the Rio de Janeiro Mayor. All International events were postponed, leaving both WST, WWT and WQT tour riders with no event to gain valuable world tour points.
The fourth scheduled event on the WST, the Philippines Cloud 9 Challenge was cancelled due to the Philippines Naming Rights sponsor withdrawing from the event at the last minute as a result of the unstable conditions in the Philippines at the time.
The news of the Pipeline event dates being confirm has made all competitors on the WST and WQT relieved.
“I am so stoked to hear the dates for Pipe have been confirmed” sighed Australian World number two Andrew Lester. “It has been a very hard year for everyone on the WQT and WST tour, and especially the IBA, as most of the unfortunate cancellations of some major events were out of their hands. We should look positive now and concentrate on what lays ahead of us. Pipe is back on track with its original dates which is great and next year looks stronger than ever”.
Defending WST and WQT Pipeline Champion, Hawaiian Jeff Hubbard now has a chance to defend both titles and an even better chance of taking out his first IBA World Super Tour (WST) World Championship title. “I am very excited that I finally know for sure when our Pipeline contest will be held. It gives me a good idea on how long I have to train and to get ready for the contest now as a world title is possible if the cards are played right. The surf in Hawaii has already provided a few fun days at Pipe so it has been good getting back in the feel of solid surf again and having the contest definitely set is getting me even more excited for the up coming winter months”.
The WST riders in contention for the 2003 World Super Tour Crown are Australia’s Damian King, six times World Bodyboarding Champion Guilherme Tamega, Hawaiian Jeff Hubbard, Western Australia’s Sean Virtue and South African and two times World Bodyboarding Champion Andre Botha.
As for the contenders in the race for the World Qualifying Tour (WQT) Crown, the top 16 going into the last event at Pipeline will be announced after the two remaining regional events are completed in the Dominican Republic and the one remaining regional event to be held by the ETB in Portugal.
| # | Firstname | Surname | Country | Human Teahupoo Challenge | Human Cronulla Shark Island Challenge | Pipeline World Champs Jan '04 | IBA Rankings Best 2 Results | 2002 WST Seeding Points | Current Seeding Points | 2003 Seeding Number |
|---|
| 1 | Damian | King | Australia | 2000 | 1340 | | 3340 | 1000 | 3340 | 2 |
| 2 | Guilherme | Tamega | Brazil | 1165 | 2000 | | 3165 | 2000 | 4000 | 1 |
| 3 | Jeff | Hubbard | Hawaii | 1220 | 1720 | | 2940 | 1340 | 3060 | 3 |
| 4 | Sean | Virtue | Australia | 1460 | 1000 | | 2460 | 1460 | 2920 | 4 |
| 5 | Andre | Botha | South Africa | 1340 | 910 | | 2250 | 1055 | 2395 | 6 |
| 6 | Andrew | Lester | Australia | 1055 | 940 | | 1995 | 1720 | 2775 | 5 |
| 7 | Beau | Day | Australia | 970 | 970 | | 1940 | 1220 | 2190 | 7 |
| 8 | Grahame | Miller | Australia | 1110 | 730 | | 1840 | 880 | 1990 | 9 |
| 9 | Toby | Player | Australia | 670 | 1055 | | 1725 | 850 | 1905 | 11 |
| 10 | Dave | Winchester | Australia | 500 | 1220 | | 1720 | 0 | 1720 | 13 |
| 11 | Alistair | Taylor | South Africa | 760 | 880 | | 1640 | 1110 | 1990 | 8 |
| 12 | Mitchell | Rawlins | Australia | 970 | 640 | | 1610 | 610 | 1610 | 17 |
| 13 | Ben | Player | Australia | 700 | 820 | | 1520 | 1165 | 1985 | 10 |
| 14 | Paulo | Barcellos | Brazil | 910 | 525 | | 1435 | 730 | 1640 | 15 |
| 15 | Ben | Holland | Australia | 880 | 450 | | 1330 | 670 | 1550 | 19 |
| 16 | Tyson | Williams | Australia | 850 | 475 | | 1325 | 790 | 1640 | 16 |
| 17 | Kelley | Hunt | Hawaii | 475 | 790 | | 1265 | 910 | 1700 | 14 |
| 18 | Josh | Kirkman | Australia | 580 | 670 | | 1250 | 0 | 1250 | 21 |
| 19 | Ryan | Hardy | Australia | 350 | 850 | | 1200 | 970 | 1820 | 12 |
| 20 | Jason | Hazle | Australia | 525 | 550 | | 1075 | 940 | 1490 | 20 |
| 21 | Mike | Stewart | Hawaii | 790 | 0 | | 790 | 820 | 1610 | 18 |
| 22 | Nicolas | Capdeville | France | 450 | 0 | | 450 | 0 | 450 | 22 |
| 23 | Cedric | Dufaure | France | 425 | 0 | | 425 | 0 | 425 | 23 |
With Major WQT events in Omaesaki in Japan, Sintra in Portugal, the Dominican Republic and Pipeline Hawaii in 2004, the IBA WQT looks set to become stronger. As for the proposed World Super Tour in 2004, Teahupoo, and Shark Island with Brazil, Chile, Fiji and Pipe look set to come on board at this stage.
The 2004 calendar will be released as soon as negotiations are final on the new venues and dates.
Mark Fordham
IBA World Super Tour Events Manager
[email protected]
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