Dive still alive in world surf champs

Mount surfer Alex Dive has won through to the last eight at the junior world surfing champion ships in Ecuador today, though teammate Matt Hewitt will have to brave the repechage rounds to progress further.
Dive finished second in his under-18 heat to South African favourite Shaun Joubert, and has drawn Australian Jordih Watson and French pair Maxime Huscenot and P V Laborde in the next round.
Dive's 13.16 heat score was just good enough to get past another Australian, Garrett Parkes.
Hewitt wasn't so fortunate, however, knocked into the repechage rounds by Huscenot and Brazilian Miguel Pupo who scored 17.33 and 16.90 respectively in the heavy 2.5m swells at the exposed Salinas break.
National senior champion Hewitt couldn't add to his 12.00 score as the big sets rumbled in, and will try to make the four-man final through the back door.
Another Mount surfer, Todd Doyle, was runner-up in his second repechage round with 11.43 points, behind Australian Creed McTaggert to keep his under-16 chances alive.
Hewitt and Dive have both had previous success at the event, with Hewitt finishing third in the under-16 division in 2007 and Dive 13th last year.
The New Zealand team lost two further surfers to the repechage rounds with Auckland's Rosa Thompson placing fourth in her heat.
Thompson only managed to catch two waves which included a 5.50 and a 1.10 and needed a 6.21 to progress through the heat but came up short losing to French surfers Canelle Bulrad and Justine Dupont.
In the under-16 boys, Damien Norman placed fourth in his heat being eliminated by star Hawaii prodigy Keanu Asing and Mateus Navarro (Brazil).
Norman only needed a 5.28 to progress through the low scoring heat but conditions worked against the young 15-year-old.
He now finds himself with three other teammates _ Ben Poulter (Raglan), Joe Moretti (Mimiwhangata) and Doyle.