| 
Friday,
23 March 2007: Australian Sam Cornish has won the woman’s 2007 Association
of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Hot Tuna Central Coast Pro at Soldiers Beach. 
The
26 year-old from Byron Bay on the New South Wales north coast edged out Brazilian
dynamite duo Tais Almeida and Sylvana Lima as well as Kiwi junior sensation, Paige
Hareb. This is the ASP World Tour surfer’s fourth win
as a professional surfer, but it’s been a while since the Aussie charger
has held the winner’s trophy above her head. 
Cornish’s
last victory speech was at a 2004 4 Star World Qualifying Series (WQS) held at
Santa Cruz in the United States. Her first ever win was at
South West Rocks on the New South Wales north coast when she crushed an all boy
field at just 12 years of age and won an ice cream. 
“I
thought there’s got to be more ice creams out there,” she joked. Three
years later, Cornish was competing on the WQS. After today
pocketing a cash prize of $US2500 and 500 points for taking out the 2 Star Hot
Tuna Central Coast Pro, she can buy a truckload of ice creams. But
she won’t, as she is too concerned with fitness and conditioning. “I
only came into the Hot Tuna for some heat practice,” said a refreshed Cornish,
who has been “working severely” on her mental and physical conditioning. “I’ve
been doing some work with a sports therapist and been working hard to eliminate
negativity from my existence,” she said. “It’s
easy, when you start losing a few heats, to start focusing on defeat. “But
I have been getting positive reinforcement, doing a lot of hard training and getting
my head and body in the right space to start winning,” the affable Cornish
said. Combining those efforts with regular yoga sessions, Cornish
is confident that she can finish 2007 in a stronger position than last year’s
11th placing on the World Tour’s end of year chart. “Last
year was not good,” Cornish says, before checking herself. “It
was not good except that it made me realise I needed a new approach,” she
quickly adds. But that strength of mind and body she is referring
to was obvious in today’s final, when her wave selection, her vertical snaps
and her ability to push hard off the bottom and beat collapsing sections was what
got her past Almeida by a tad more than half a point. Currently
sitting in 8th place on the elite tour rankings after the season’s opener
at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast last month, Cornish will now fly to Margaret
River before resuming the World Tour at Bells Beach over Easter. “After
Bells we’ve got three months off till Huntington, so I will be continuing
to work on the fitness,” she said. Brazilian Lima, who
won the Midori Pro at Newcastle less than a week ago, just couldn’t find
the waves in the final. A clear favourite this morning with
those who like a casual punt, Lima showed again at Soldiers that she is going
to be a standout performer on the elite tour in 2007. The pocket
rocket is firming as favourite among long time pundits to become the first Brazilian
to take a surfing world title at the highest level. Young Kiwi
Paige Hareb was not shamed by the other trio of professional women surfers who
have a lifetime of more experience between them. The 16 year-old
from Taranaki, who came 2nd at Phillip Island and 3rd at Coolum in the ASP Australasian
Junior Series, is flying back to the land of the long white cloud tomorrow. Hareb
will be looking to improve on her current 8th position in the series rankings
when she contests the Raglan junior event next week. | 
