Sarah Mason Climbs World Rankings After Third Placing

Sarah Mason has rocketed up the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women's World Rankings to fifth after placing third at the Sri Lankan Airlines Pro completed at Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka yesterday (Sunday 4th September).

Mason jumped up five places on the rankings and now has a serious chance of qualifying for the 2012 ASP Women's World Title Tour as a spritely 16-year-old surfer. Should Mason qualify she will become the second youngest surfer ever to qualify for the tour behind Tyler Wright (AUS) who qualified this year also as a sixteen year old.

Mason steamrolled her way through an impressive line up of international surfers at the six-star event that was held in Sri Lanka. It was the first time the ASP Women's World Tour had frequented Sri Lanka with Arugam Bay providing a perfect right hand point break wave which clearly suited the young goofy foot surfer.

Mason was eliminated in the semifinals by American surfer Lakey Peterson 12.75 vs 10.20. Peterson went on to place second to Courtney Conlogue (USA) in the final.

Before her loss, Mason eliminated ASP World Title Tour surfer Jessi Miley - Dyer (AUS) in the quarterfinals.

"It was kind of slow so I knew I had to get the right waves," Mason said. "I'm trying not to think about the semis, I just want to keep going under the radar" added Mason before her narrow loss to Peterson.

Early in the event Mason also defeated 2004 ASP World Champion Sofia Mulanovich (PER), event wildcard Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) and young French upstart Alize Arnaud. She also beat Peterson in the early rounds of the event but the two surfers progressed through to the next round and later met up in the semifinals where Peterson exacted revenge for her earlier defeat.

The result secures back-to-back third placings for Mason, her last being at the Swatch Girls Pro in France held during June. Mason also placed ninth at an event in Australia earlier in the year.

Paige Hareb (Tara) also contested the Sri Lankan event placing 13th after being defeated by Nage Melamed (HAW) and Lakey Peterson. Hareb is now ranked eighth on the Women's World Rankings and is also well in contention to requalify for the 2012 ASP Women's World Title Tour.

There are two further events to contest before the end of year rankings will be finalised. The Cabreiroa Pantin Classic Pro will be contested from the 15th of September. The Billabong Azores Island Pro is scheduled to take place from the 26th of September.

Mason and Hareb need to finish inside the top six surfers on the rankings to qualify for the 2012 ASP Women's World Tour