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"\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe src=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.youtube.com\\/embed\\/S-XPvCax6AA&amp;#038;feature?enablejsapi=1\\\" width=\\\"640\\\" height=\\\"360\\\" frameborder=\\\"0\\\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;\\/iframe&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In a Tense Final, Irishman Glenn Hall Wins the Inaugural Hainan Classic at Riyue Bay; South Africa\\u2019s Royden Bryson Starts the Year With a Second-Place Finish&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hainan Wanning Riyue Bay International Surfing Festival Presented by Quiksilver&lt;\\/em&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n&lt;em&gt; Saturday, January 14, 2012&lt;\\/em&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n&lt;em&gt; Wanning, Hainan Island, China&lt;\\/em&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Despite smaller conditions on the final day of the competition at the Hainan Classic, the Final was an action-packed, wave-for-wave affair. Glenn \\u2018Micro\\u2019 Hall (IRL) managed to take control early with a long, excellent-scoring wave mid-way through the heat and hold off Royden Bryson (ZAF) in order to be crowned the first-ever champion of the Hainan Classic, an ASP 4-Star organized by the ISA.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cChina\\u2019s been amazing, I was honestly stoked to come here regardless of the contest, but to come here and have fun, uncrowded waves, was great. The first couple days were two-foot and fun then it got to four-foot and pumping and then it got bigger and it\\u2019s just been a good week,\\u201d said Hall, after his win, which is the highest-rated ASP event win by an Irish surfer. \\u201cI\\u2019m pumped, it\\u2019s been the funnest week of surfing, so to have a win and a check to go with it is amazing.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;figure id=\\\"attachment_1000142367\\\" style=\\\"width: 640px\\\" class=\\\"wp-caption aligncenter\\\"&gt;&lt;img class=\\\"size-full wp-image-1000142367\\\" title=\\\"Glenn Hall\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.grindtv.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2012\\/01\\/Glenn-Hall.jpg\\\" alt=\\\"Glenn Hall\\\" width=\\\"640\\\" height=\\\"408\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;figcaption class=\\\"wp-caption-text\\\"&gt;Hainan Classic winner Glenn Hall. Photo: ISA\\/Watts&lt;\\/figcaption&gt;&lt;\\/figure&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Both surfers have been putting in countless hours over the last week getting to know the various waves around the contest area, particularly the barreling sand-bottom wave further up the point, which was getting comparisons to world-class waves around the world. All that experience proved vital on the final day of action of the inaugural Hainan Wanning Riyue Bay International Surfing Festival presented by Quiksilver.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Today, both surfers dedicated their morning to watching. Both were at the contest venue at first light to do research.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cI got here early trying to dissect it and find out which ones were actually the good ones,\\u201d Hall said. \\u201cI was up at 5:30, I didn\\u2019t even free-surf; I figured today would be a lot different, so I just sat and watched.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;In the first semifinal of the morning, Hall was up against Dion Atkinson (AUS), the powerful regular-stance surfer. Atkinson actually was the one to get off to the fast start, registering an 8.33, but he struggled to find an adequate back-up.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Hall kept active, posting a 6.9 to close the gap, before stroking into one of the best set waves of the heat. After two big floaters and a couple of turns the wave came through at an 8.17, forcing the Australian to scramble. Atkinson\\u2019s wave in the dying moments of the heat wouldn\\u2019t be enough.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;In the second semifinal, Bryson managed to advance past Marc Lacomare (FRA), who\\u2019s been one of the top-performing competitors in the ISA\\u2019s two-event Surfing Festival. The South African was on the choice waves of the heat and tallied the highest total heat score of the day, at 16.87. In the final, Bryson wasn\\u2019t finding those same waves. It was Hall who kept most active and was finding the waves that lined-up all the way through the bay, allowing for multiple turns and maneuvers. Bryson did complete the trick of the heat, landing a perfectly executed double-grab air-reverse.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, Bryson couldn\\u2019t find the waves to out-point Hall, who was surfing fast and smooth on the best waves of the heat, for a total score of 16.33. Bryson had a few opportunities late in the heat, but finished with a score of 16.16. After the final, at the water\\u2019s edge, a pair of Australians was able to pull Hall away from the mob of Chinese media and chaired him up the beach. Hall spends half of the year living and training in Australia.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cI\\u2019m stoked for Hally, he\\u2019s a good friend of mine, so I couldn\\u2019t have picked a better person to win the final, besides myself,\\u201d said Bryson, with a laugh. \\u201cAll in all, I am just stoked to have come here; it\\u2019s an amazing place, and I cannot believe the quality of the waves. It\\u2019s a place I\\u2019ll definitely visit again in the future.\\u201d After the final, at the Award Ceremony, Hall was presented with the $15,000 USD winner\\u2019s-check and the ornate jade dragon trophy.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cThe whole world has watched in delight the wonderful waves and surfing in China. It is the intention of the ISA, to come back to Hainan, to Riyue Bay early next year, with the second edition of the Surfing Festival, and continue our partnership with Womei and the People\\u2019s Republic of China,\\u201d said Fernando Aguerre, the president of the ISA. \\u201cWhen we the surfers arrived in China over one week ago, we were not prepared for the formidable and warm welcome we received. Tomorrow we will all go home as ambassadors of China and its wonderful people. Xie-xie China, xie-xie Hainan, xie-xie Wanning.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;The entire ISA organized event is available to watch On-Demand at &lt;a href=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.hainaninternationalsurfingfestival.com\\/hainan-classic\\/live\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\"&gt;www.hainaninternationalsurfingfestival.com\\/hainan-classic\\/live&lt;\\/a&gt;.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About the International Surfing Association&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nThe International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the World Governing Authority for Surfing. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running Open Division World Championships since 1964, Junior World Championships since 1980, and Masters World Championships since 2007. The ISA also sanctions the World Kneeboard Titles and the Tandem Surfing World Title, and the first stand-alone World Bodyboard Championship in 2011, and the first World Standup Paddle (SUP) and Paddleboard Championship will be held in 2012.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies of 70 countries on five continents. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California. It is presided over by Fernando Aguerre (Argentina), first elected President in 1994 in Rio de Janeiro and re-elected seven times since. The ISA\\u00b4s three Vice-Presidents are Alan Atkins (AUS), Kar\\u00edn Sierralta (PER) and Debbie Beacham (USA).&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Womei Media&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nWomei Media is a complete media group with headquarters in Beijing, China. Womei Media consists of a sports marketing division that is dedicated to introducing new and exciting sports to the Chinese people by organizing and promoting major sporting events throughout the country. Womei Media is an advertising agency for CCTV, China\\u00b4s largest national TV network. The company also publishes and distributes print magazines, and it is developing a chain of movie theaters throughout China. Womei Media is the primary Chinese commercial agent of the ISA (International Surfing Association), UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale), and the National Basketball Association\\u00b4s Houston Rockets.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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