5 November 2024, Jialeshuei – Taiwan:  The 2024 Pingtung Manzhou Jialeshuei International Surfing Competition wrapped up two days ago, with dramatic action in the water as the final competitors in each division battled it out for the top spot on the podium, and then were awarded cash and prizes from event sponsors in a festive awarding presentation back on the beach as the sun set in the west.

In a fitting end to two very full days of competition, with some 200 competitors from countries including Japan, Thailand, Korea, France, Australia, Italy, the UK, and the USA coming to Southern Taiwan to compete, the ASC Men’s Longboard Final brought a dramatic end to the exciting event.

Each of the four finalists held the lead at some point during the 20 minute final, with Thailand’s Henry Sitipong Chapman jumping into an early first place position, but soon challenged by Taiwan’s Wang Haoen.  Both were soon overtaken by Jialeshuei local Pan Haixin, but coming from behind was Zhang Fuzheng who took off on a nice lefthander and stretched out a noseride coupled with smooth cutbacks to earn the highest score of the final, a 6.77 (out of a possible 10 points) from the judging panel and take the lead.  

In the final moments of the final, both Chapman and Haixin found good waves and did their best to squeeze out ever point they could and overtake Fuzheng, and as time expired the finalists all waited on the beach for the judges’ decision, which took about 10 minutes as they carefully reviewed both surfer’s waves.  Then it was officially announced that Fuzheng retained his lead, with Haixin coming in second and Chapman in third.

“I’m so happy to have won today,” said Fuzheng. “The last time I won at a competition was about four years ago, so it has been a long time.  Actually I haven’t really been surfing much the last couple of years, but when this competition was announced, I decided to enter and then the last few days starting practicing.  I was just happy to make it into the final, so when I was out there I decided to just go with the flow and see what would happen,” he explained.

In the ASC Women’s Longboard final, Japan’s Hiroka Yoshikawa had no trouble finding her rhythm, posting the final’s highest single wave score of 7.17 on her first wave for seemingly effortless use of the entire board for multiple combinations of nose rides and turns.  Her wave selection was almost perfect, catching only five waves during the 20 minute final, and only the last one not earning her a good score.  Yoshikawa sits Number 3 on WSL’s Asian Region women’s rankings, so is no stranger to the winner’s circle.

“Before my final, it seemed that there weren’t that many waves coming through, so I was a bit nervous,” said Yoshikawa.  “But then right at that start I got that nice one and a good score, so for the rest of the time I could just enjoy it and only wait for a bigger waves.  In my first heat today, early this morning, the waves were really small, but suddenly a bigger wave came to me and it was such a good one.  I was so happy, I think it was sign that it was my lucky day.  I’m so happy to be back here in Taiwan, but I didn’t even bring my own surfboard.  So I today used a board from local shaper Tommei (Chen Dong-Ming) and it was magic, it worked so good for me.”

As mentioned by Hiroka Yoshikawa, the number of good waves coming through during the ASC Junior final limited the scores, with all competitors prowling the lineup in search of the best waves, and priority was certainly a factor.  In the end it was Taiwan’s Liu Mingrang (aka Cooper), who just edged out France’s You Jiaqi to take the top spot on the podium.  

“I didn’t really get any good waves. I think I was just lucky to get the ones that were just good enough,” said Mingrang.  “But this is the best contest that I’ve ever won.  The prize money is so big!”

The awarding ceremony drew a big crowd, who cheered for the winners and were treated to beautiful Hawaiian style dancers and some words from local dignitaries.

TORSA Contest Director Chris Hsia was very pleased by how well the event went, especially after the challenges of a postponement and two typhoons. 

“It was certainly a challenge, and we did have our doubts at one point that it was really going to happen, given the typhoons proximity and timing,’ said Hsia.  “And then during the competition, we had some really strong winds that caused some tents to blow over, with the judges being blasted by sand and wind.  But we managed to keep things going, and everything worked out even better than we expected.  This was my first time working with these ASC judges from Indonesia, and their knowledge of both longboarding and shortboarding along with their good vibe was really impressive, and our judges learned a lot from them during these two days, so we thank the ASC for sharing them and supporting us at this event.” 

The ASC’s Tim Hain was equally pleased with the results, saying “TORSA did an amazing job getting this event up, with their team putting in long hours and making the many adjustments that were necessary due to the challenges of the weather and the postponement.  We thank them for their effort and commitment, and their trust in us to sanction the event.  We also want to thank the many sponsors that supporting the event, and especially the Pintung County Government, the Taiwan Ministry of Education, and the last but not least, all the competitors that joined the event.”

Click here  https://liveheats.com/events/284408/schedule for the event schedule, heat draws and matchups, and for more general event information https://www.facebook.com/surftaiwan?mibextid=LQQJ4d

The Pingtung Manzhou Jialeshuei International Surfing Competition was broadcast live, so can see relive the action on YouTube at 

https://youtube.com/@taiwantorsa?si=MvZGca8224lUoXpL

Please follow TORSA @torsataiwan and ASC @asiansurfco on Instagram to keep up with all the latest, and visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/surftaiwan

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The 2024 Pingtung Manzhou Jialeshuei International Surfing Competition is brought to you by the Taiwan Ministry of Education and the Pingtung County Government, organized by the Taiwan Ocean Recreation Sports Association (TORSA), sanctioned by the Asian Surf Cooperative (ASC) with sponsorship contributions by Bolong Café , ROXY, QUIKSILVER , Taiwan Share House, Global Sense, Britney Spears Entertainment, Muii Swim, Red Bull, Havaianas, SurfAce Apparel, VAST, The Palm Roof, Betelnut Co., Collet, Viva Mexico, usass.co, and Outside Paradise