Japanese surfers Kanoa Igarashi, Hiroto Ohhara and Amuro Tsuzuki moved into the last eight of the Tokyo Games surfing competition Monday in the third-round heats of the new Olympic sport.
After a 90-minute delay due to the low tide and shifting weather at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, Igarashi capitalized on his chances in heavy but messy conditions to beat Rio Waida of Indonesia by two points to move into the quarterfinals.
It was Igarashi who got the score when it counted, the dual-citizen of Japan and the U.S. booking an 8.0-point ride on his third scoring wave and finding a 6.0-point second wave in his victory over the Indonesian-Japanese who carried his nation's flag in the opening ceremony.
Also in the men's third round, Ohhara left it to the last minutes to better his two-wave total, replacing a 3.60 with a 5.67, which was good enough for him to scrape past Peru's Miguel Tudela and move on.
The other Japanese to surf on Monday morning was Mahina Maeda. She was eliminated by American Caroline Marks in the women's third round.
Igarashi and Ohhara made a great start to their Olympic campaigns on the first day of surfing competition in games history on Sunday, earning a straight pass into the third round.
Tsuzuki showed that quality counts more than quantity, riding only five scoring waves, 10 less than Brazilian Tatiana Weston-Webb, for a two-wave total of 10.33 to claim her crucial round 3 victory.
In another women's round 3 heat, Australian seven-time world champion Steph Gilmore was defeated by South African Bianca Buitendag, sinking the medal hope's Tokyo Olympics.
After the third round, an elimination stage with eight heats of two surfers each, the surfers go head-to-head.
In a 30-minute heat, surfers are in the water at the same time in a pre-determined competition zone. Each surfer can catch as many waves as possible and receive a score 0-10, but only the top two scores count.
In the quarterfinals, only the top surfers of all four heats will move through to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the top surfers qualify for the final, and the losers vie for bronze.
The quarterfinals are expected to be held at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, conditions permitting.
