Joel Parkinson may have given away world title shot to surf world’s most fun comp hosted by the Gold Coast’s Mad Hueys
SURFER Joel Parkinson may be giving away points towards a second world title to surf in the “funnest (sic) competition in the world”.
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UPDATE: JOEL Parkinson has pulled out from the Brazilian leg of the surfing’s Championship Tour to “mend a knee injury” according to the World Surf League.
This is despite the 2012 world champion surfing hard at the Komune Bali Pro Presented By The Mad Hueys yesterday.
Parkinson was scored 9 out of a possible 10 on just one of the pumping waves he surfed yesterday.
“I’ve been as excited to get here for this comp as any Championship Tour event,” Parkinson said after his heat in Bali.
“I forgot how good this wave is for a contest it’s almost made for it. I feel like I really know this wave really well and know which waves to take. It’s just such an amazing place,” he said.
The WSL also confirmed fellow Australian Kai Otton has withdrawn from the Brazilian event for personal reasons.
Three time world champion Mick Fanning will continue his personal year and will not surf Brazil.
The retirement of Taj Burrow from the tour last month means he will also not surf in Brazil.
EARLIER: SURFER Joel Parkinson may be giving away points towards a second world title to surf in the “funnest (sic) competition in the world”.
Pumping waves and pool parties have attracted the 2012 world champion — along with big-name surfers Taj Burrow, Bruce Irons and Dean “Dingo” Morrison — to the Komune Bali Pro Presented By The Mad Hueys.
The Bali event will finish on May 7, while the World Surf League Championship Tour event, the Oi Rio Pro in Brazil, will begin on May 10, just three days later.
Parkinson’s attendance in Bali is fuelling rumours that a host of top Australian surfers will not compete in Rio.
Many competitors at last year’s Oi Rio Pro fell sick for weeks after swimming in water reportedly polluted by raw sewage.
Parkinson, who is currently ranked fifth in the World Surf League rankings, said retired tour veteran Burrow convinced him to take part in the Bali Pro because it was one of the “most fun events he’s entered in 20 years of surfing”.
Burrow, who retired from competitive surfing last month, yesterday told Tracks that top surfers have already planned to pull out of the Brazilian event due to poor water quality.
“It’s no secret the water is filthy,” Burrow said.
The Mad Hueys co-founder Dean Harrington yesterday said “half the world tour surfers” had already pulled out of Brazil to surf the pumping waves at Bali instead. Harrington told the Bulletin from Bali he was amazed by the growth of the competition in three years.
“We have hands down the funnest (sic) competition in the world — we don’t have any goals though, we’re just living in the moment,” he said.
There is $10,000 worth of prize money up for grabs at the Komune Bali Pro compared to $500,000 on offer for the male competitors at the Oi Rio Pro.
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