Tokong carries Philippines' hopes in International Surfing Cup

MANILA, Philippines -- Surfing star John Mark Tokong is the lone Filipino standing in the WSL Siargao International Surfing Cup, as the action heats up in the semifinals.

The 28-year-old is the only Filipino left in the competition in Siargao at the end of the round of 16. Compatriots Troy Espejon and Jayuard Alciso failed to make it to the quarterfinals as international surfers proved to be too much.

Tokong then scored 11.10 in Heat 4 on Thursday and qualified for the final eight, where he faced Australia’s Eden Hasson. The former fended off challenging waves and scored 17.70, while the latter had 12.23.

In the semifinals, Tokong will take on Xavier Huxtable for a shot at making the finals of the Qualifying Series 5000. In the other bracket, Japan’s Tenshi Iwami will face Australia’s Oscar Berry.

“It was crazy. It's kind of shifty, like it's moving a lot and it's not really barreling. Most of the waves are not really barrels, so I was just waiting for the right waves, the double-ups and nice and clean. Thankfully I really know how to read the waves,” he said after the quarterfinals.

“I was like, ‘Okay I'm just gonna go for it and get another score.’ My first wave was the one to get nine points. It was really, really nice because I thought I'm not gonna come out on that. I was just closing my eyes while I was in the barrel and when I opened up it was just like, whoa! It opened up clean and I came out. So happy for that,” he added.

He now moves into his sixth semifinal out of eight qualifying series events entered at Cloud 9.

Over at the women’s division, it will be an All-Aussie affair as Holly Williams and Charli Hately battle it out in one bracket, while Sierra Kerr and Milla Brown will duke it out in the other.

The competition will resume on Saturday, November 2.