World Junior Championships Canceled

• www.aspworldtour.com
• Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)
• 2002 World Junior Championships (WJC)

ASP Int'l, Australia (Friday, August 9) Billabong and the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) regretfully announce the postponement of this years' World Junior Championships, scheduled for Phillip Island, VictoriaAustralia, during November.

Over the last few years the event has tried to find an excellent wave location in Hawaii and Australia. Permitting issues in Hawaii led to last years' move to Phillip Island, though dates coincide with Australia's and the southern Hemisphere's biggest international horse racing carnival, the Melbourne Cup, in the same region the same week.

Trying to find a suitable date to avoid this clash is just as difficult because the final events of the all important World Qualifying Series (WQS) season are occurring and to collide with these tournaments would unfairly require many of the worlds' best young surfers to choose between a world junior championship title or potentially qualifying for the WorldChampionship Tour (WCT).

Billabong and ASP are committed to finding the right time and place for this prestigious title during the 2003 season and hope to announce a solution shortly.

Billabong remains committed to pro junior surfing throughout the world and sincerely regrets this situation. Seven (7) regional junior champions willstill be crowned and acknowledged in 2002.