Justice or injustice in Australia?
A few days ago we observed a controversy in the judging of one of the waves of the Costa Rican surfer Carlos Muñoz, this occurred during the series 3 of round 6 of the 3000 pt qualifying date of Avoca, Australia.
Muñoz needed a score of 7.8 and, catching a wave with only a few seconds left in the series, the national surfer performed outstanding maneuvers that were not seen during the heat. However, according to the judges' criteria, that wave did not merit the necessary points to surpass Owen Wright, who was also in the heat and could be eliminated from the competition by the national surfer.
The decision was questioned by commentators and some surfers on the beach. “Cali” respected the decision and remains calm, awaiting the next event.
“In the heat, you're focused on your own thing, just listening to the scores, and I didn't get the last wave, but I kept my head up and focused on the next event. However, after seeing the analysis, there's no doubt that 6.6 points was very high, even compared to another surfer from Australia who caught better waves and got lower scores. My first wave was 5.17 points, and I feel it was nice. At the last moment, under pressure and everything, I managed to catch a wave that maybe could have been the score I needed. The commentators said it looked like it was, but there are five judges, and well, you have to accept it and move on. Now the two QS 6000-point events are coming up here in Australia, and we're going to give 100% to get a couple of positive results,” Carlos Muñoz told Surfing Republica.
Considering the judging criteria in surfing, we decided to consult the renowned national judge Gustavo Corrales about the decision, who told us the following:
“ Carlos’ wave, compared to his opponents’, was much better due to the difficulty and risk of the first maneuver. Not to mention that the closing maneuver was also incredibly powerful. It would be interesting to know the technical reasoning of the head judge at that tournament.”
Written by: Enrique Hernández - Surfing Republica