Manuel Selman: close to the victory in El Salvador

The Chileans had notable participation that secured their place in the competition in El Salvador, where the sixth stage of the Latin American tour was held.  Manuel Selman placed second, a position that carried to the sixth bracket of the current ranking.

The first Chilean to enter the water was Tristán Aicardi who scored a solid 13.33.  Aicardi surpassed the locals, Luís Martínez and Samuel González, and continued with ease to the second round.  Edwin Del Río won first place in the second heatof the second round, up against local Samuel Arenivar who was believed to be a sure winner.  Edwin, a native of Maitencillo, claimed his spot in the third round with a 12.54. 

Then was Diego Medina’s turn.  Up against locals Pedro Delgado and José Diaz, Medina won first place in his heat by a narrow margin and passed to the third round, just like Tristán Aicardi.
 
In the third round Edwin Del Río and Tristán Aicardi achieved third place in their respective heats and completed their participation in the contest.  But Manuel Selman made it through onto the fourth round alongside Diego Medina, who was left behind to compete against the Venezuelan favorite Jean Carlo Schaffer. 

In the fourth round, Diego Medina earned the first place in his heat with a strong 14.67.  This allowed him to pass easily to the quarter-finals where the competition became man to man. Manuel Selman managed to gain second place in a controversial and very eventful 5th round heat which secured his spot in the next phase.  Unfortunately, in this heat he would be measured up against Diego Medina. 

Thus, quarter-finals began with a 25 minute tension-filled duel between the two Chilean friends.  In the end, Manuel Selman (15.60) was victorious by a little more than one point over the native of Horcón, Diego Medina (14.10). 

In the semi-finals, Selman was confronted by Josie Graves, the surfer that beat out the 2006 Champion Martín Paseri in the quarters of the event.  The surfer from Reñaca demanded respect and secured his ticket to the finals in the most critical heat.

In a grand goofies finale the El Salvador contest came to a close as Luis Vindas snagged a 9.17 with a perfect wave forcing Selman into second place. 

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