The beach breaks of Shida Point in Ichinomiya, Chiba are host this week to an impressive field of international and domestic surfers competing in the QS 6000 Gotcha Ichinomiya Chiba Open.
The contest, which has a window of completion until Sunday May 28, is stop No. 27 on pro surfing's busy Qualification Series tour which, at the end of the year, will see the top 10 ranked QS surfers qualify for the following year’s premier surf tour the Championship Tour, from which World Champions are decided.
Coming fresh off the back of the last CT event in Brazil, the Oi Rio Pro, this year’s Chiba Open features a strong Brazilian contingent in the line up including Oi Rio Pro Champion and former World Champion Ardiano de Souza, Yago Dora and David do Carmo. They will be competing alongside current and former CT surfers such as Frederico Morais (PRT), Nat Young (USA), Ricardo Christie (NZL), Adam Melling (AUS), Aritz Araburu (ESP) and current Chiba Open Champion Evan Geiselman (USA).
Also competing in the Ichinomiya event is current No.4 on the QS ranking, Japanese surfer Ohara Hiroshi (大野修聖) who will be welcoming the chance to compete in the breaks of his hometown area. Hiroshi heads up a list of Japanese surfers at this year's contest including Masatoshi Ono (大野修聖), Reo Inaba (稲葉玲王), Yuji Mori (森友二), Arashi Kato (加藤嵐), Takumi Nakamura (仲村拓久未), Kaito Ohashi (大橋海人), Shun Murakami (村上舜), Arai Hiroto (新井洋人), Hideyoshi Tanaka (田中英義) and 2015 U.S. Open of Surfing Champion Hiroto Ohhara (大原洋人).
After a strong showing at the Oi Rio Pro, CT competitor and US-Japanese surfer Kanoa Igarashi (五十嵐カノア) is also among the impressive field in Ichinomiya. Having competed in the breaks of this part of Japan since a junior he will be hoping to claim a title on Japanese shores and backup his standing on the CT.
Watch the Gotcha Ichinomiya Chiba Open live over at the World Surf League homepage.
