BUTUAN CITY – Filipino professional surfer John Mark Tokong bagged the championship crown of the 25th Siargao International Surfing Cup held at Cloud 9, General Luna town from October 4 to 9.
Tokong, a native of Siargao Island and locally known as “Marama”, defeated Hawaiian professional surfer Noah Beschen during Heat 1 of the final round on Wednesday.
Tokong scored 9.00 in Wave 1 and 7.60 points in Wave 2 with a total score of 16.80 points while Beschen got 8.15 points in Wave 1 and 8.60 in Wave 2 with a total score of 16.75 points.
Of the 21 Filipino surfers who joined the competition, only Tokong managed to reach the quarterfinal round, where he outclassed surfer Oney Anwar of Indonesia via 18.75 points against 9.50 points.
In the semifinal round, Tokong won over surfer Tomas King of Costa Rica, 19.05 points to 15.30 points.
Tokong was the runner up in last year’s competition that was won by American surfer Skip McCullough.
Tokong outclassed McCullough during Heat 3 in Round 3 of this year’s surfing cup with 12.75 against 12.10 points.
After emerging as champion this year, Tokong is ranked No. 934 by the World Surf League (WSL) in the Men’s Qualifying Series 2019 with four Heat wins, a 14.41 average Heat score, and a 4.88 average Wave score. (PNA)
Pinoy surfer wins 25th Siargao int'l surfing cup
By Alexander Lopez
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