Taiwan Open Of Surfing To Host LQS Event

The Taiwan Open Of Surfing has added a 1-Star ASP Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) division to their action packed event roster, giving the world's best longboard surfers compete for ranking's points and the chance to qualify for the ASP World Longboard Championships.

Last year's event hosted an amateur longboard division, and due to its overwhelming popularity, and to offer Taiwanese surfers the chance to compete for prestigious ASP LQS points, this year will see an upgrade to a Pro Longboard ASP LQS division.

Nic Jones (AUS), current No. 2 on the ASP Australasia LQS rankings, has his eyes on returning to Taiwan to secure a good results and a spot at next year's ASP World Longboard Championships. Jones has competed at the Taiwan Open of Surfing for the last two years and has become popular amongst the local surfers and surf fans.

“The Taiwan Open of Surfing has a great atmosphere,” Jones said. “The locals are all stoked to have us surfing in the event there and the vibe out in the surf is like no other. It's such an amazing place for culture and history, and it's one of my most favorite places on the planet. I couldn't imagine a better place to hold an LQS. The wave at Taiwan is super nice to ride on a longboard and has great sections to both noseride and jam some turns.”

Taylor Jensen (USA), two-time ASP World Longboard Champion, went to Taiwan for the first time for last year's event and finished second in the longboard division and fifth in the shortboard division and is looking forward to returning this year.

"Taiwan is an amazing place," Jensen said. "It has some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen anywhere in the world and some really quality waves. Taiwan is a country that has only really started to get into the surfing scene in the past decade, so the waves are generally uncrowded and a lot of the coastline is undiscovered or hidden from the mainstream media. The potential to get amazing waves with no-one around is really high so it's really exciting place to travel through.”

Chelsea Williams (AUS), runner-up at last year's ASP World Longboard Championships, is looking forward to heading to the Taiwan Open of Surfing to get back into competition mode.

“This is a great warm up before the ASP World Longboard Championships,” William said. “It's good to get into that comp frame of mind without having much pressure. It lets you see how far you can push your surfing in a heat for sure.”

Justin Huang, the Taitung County Governor, has been a big supporter of the Taiwan Open Of Surfing and is proud to show the world the surf and beauty that Taitung County has to offer.

"Longboarding has a large and passionate following here in the Taiwan, with some great talented young surfers pushing the sport to a new generation," Huang said. "It's biggest achievement is what it has done for Taiwan's longboard surfing and it will also be fantastic to give the Taiwan surfers an opportunity to challenge them in their hometown while giving our current crop of young and established longboarders an opportunity to launch their careers."

ASP Australasia General Manager Dane Jordan is thrilled to add another ASP LQS event to the calendar and to allow the world's best longboard surfers the chance to showcase their craft.

“It's great to see additional support for longboarding,” Jordan said. “To have the chance to see what the competitors can do and give the up-and-coming surfers a chance to earn a spot at the ASP World Longboard Championships is fantastic.”

The 2014 Taiwan Open of Surfing holds an event window of November 10th - 17th and will be broadcast LIVE on www.taiwanopenofsurfing.com.