PANAMA – Friday 1st July, 2011: WITH only two days of competition remaining the final of all three divisions at the 2011 Billabong ISA World Surfing Games are fast approaching, with a total of sixteen do-or-die Repechage heats completed today in playful 1-3 foot (half to one metre) waves at Panama's Playa Venao.

Surfers in the Repechage rounds fought to stay alive in the competition as well as give their best efforts for their respective countries at the premiere world team surfing event.

Two strong surfers from TravelSIM Team Australia were eliminated from the event during today's Repechage rounds with Dane Pioli (Tweed Heads, NSW) and Drew Courtney (Umina, NSW) both narrowly defeated placing third. Pioli eliminated in the Men's Longboard Repechage 6, and Courtney eliminated in the Open Men's Repechage 6.

"I am pretty disappointed right now as I really felt like I could surf my way into the final. There just weren't the waves for me this afternoon, but I am happy to have made a contribution to the team and now I'll be supporting all the others to win gold in their divisions," said Pioli.

Team Australia is the leading team of the event with a total of 19120 points heading into the Aloha Cup (Tag-Team) competition tomorrow. Five of Australia's representatives remain in the competition, all of which are in the top tier of the event.

Surfers which remain in the Qualify rounds include, Port Macquarie's Mick Campbell (NSW) and Coolangatta debutant Thomas Woods (QLD) who are representing the Open Men's division, Sunshine Coast sensation Dimity Stoyle (Buderim, QLD) and Bronte's Jessi Miley-Dyer (NSW) in the Open Women's division and Coffs Coast longboarder Harley Ingleby (Emerald Beach, NSW) who is the last Australian at the nose of the competition in the Longboard division.

After today, only 25 surfers remain in the competition out of the 173 at the beginning of the event.

With only two days left until individual winners and a champion team are decided, Australia's five remaining surfers will be competing not only for individual success but for the pride of the nation.

The top five Team Standings are as follows; Australia - 19120 points, Brazil - 17200 points, France - 15700 points, South Africa - 15640 points and Venezuela - 14520 points.

Costa Rica and Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Mexico, Ireland, Canada, Jamaica, Colombia, Israel, Nicaragua, Japan, Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama are the countries with all of their surfers eliminated from the competition.

Tomorrow, the Aloha Cup (Tag Team) competition will take place immediately following the rescheduled Open Women's heat. The following eight teams will go head-to-head for the event medals and points, with all the action to be webcasted live on Podium 1.

Semi Final 1 Peru, Brazil, Tahiti and Panama Semi Final 2 Australia, South Africa, USA and New Zealand