A 9.8 score was reportedly influenced by someone’s cousin working the scoring tent

Organizers of an amateur surf contest in Huntington Beach are investigating allegations of judging irregularities after a competitor received a 9.8 for what several witnesses described as “a wave that closed out almost immediately.”

The Allegations

Runner-up Danny Ochoa says the score in question went to a surfer whose cousin was, at the time, operating the scoring tent’s sound system. “I’m not saying it’s connected,” Ochoa said. “I’m just saying it’s worth a look.”

Contest director Wendy Prasad has denied any wrongdoing, calling it “a subjective sport judged by human eyes,” while also declining to release the scorecards, the judges’ names, or, at one point, eye contact.

A Pattern of Controversy

This marks the third scoring controversy at the event in five years, following 2022’s “flat spot incident” and 2019’s now-infamous “the judge left for tacos mid-heat” affair.

The London Prat has its own long history of covering sporting scandals on the sport desk, from questionable penalty calls to entire vanishing scoreboards.

Surfline has more on the growing push for transparent scoring at amateur events.

An independent review is expected within weeks, assuming the reviewer isn’t also somebody’s cousin.

Calls for Reform

Several competitors are now pushing for a fully independent scoring panel flown in from outside the county, a proposal Prasad has called “an interesting idea we’ll absolutely consider,” in the tone of someone who will not be considering it.

Ochoa, for his part, says he has moved on, though he did note that his own cousin works at a nearby taco stand and “would never dream of getting involved in something like this.”

The contest’s trophy, a wooden longboard mounted on a plaque, has reportedly been engraved and re-engraved so many times over the years that officials are considering switching to a removable nameplate, “for efficiency.”

For more like this, see The Daily Mash.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com