Brazilian attacks Australian surfer in wave dispute – 04/06/2023 – Sport

Australian surfer Sara Taylor was attacked with punches and kicks by Brazilian João Paulo Azevedo on a beach in Bali, Indonesia, last Wednesday (5). A video that circulates on social media and posted by the athlete on her profile shows the moment she and a man compete for a wave. She dominates and he falls behind.

Then, another man, identified as the capixaba surfer João Paulo Azevedo, approaches the woman and begins to attack her while still in the water. Another cut shows a mess in the sand. Sara and Charlie McHarg scream asking them to stop and leave, while once again Azevedo attacks them with kicks.

The two shared the images asking for help to identify those involved in the fight. “After I went down on my first wave, the guy’s friend punched me in the head, and after being confronted for hitting me, he attacked Charlie on the beach for filming him. This is crazy, does anyone know who they are?” , posted the surfer.

Internet users identified Adriano Portela as the one who disputed the wave with Sara and Azevedo as the aggressor.

Azevedo said in an interview with the newspaper A Gazeta that he only attacked the surfer because he didn’t know she was a woman.

“I don’t know how the confusion actually started. I saw her pushing my friend, I thought it was a man and I went to defend her. After I hit her, I saw that she was wearing a bra, I apologized and she didn’t accept it. When we were on the ground, she went to my car, took my board and started to break it. From then on I just defended myself”, he said.

The Brazilian lost the sponsorship of the surf brand Quebra Onda, which repudiated the surfer’s attitude, and deactivated his profile on social networks, claiming he was suffering attacks.

On his social networks, Portela published a statement saying that he did not hit anyone and is sorry.

“I did not hit or touch anyone. I spoke and acted with anger and disrespect. I am deeply ashamed and remorseful. I was pushed out of the wave, as you can see in the video posted. Unfortunately, after that a punch was thrown into the water, but not by me and I was not involved in it.

I continued surfing and noticed a fight between the girl who pulled me out of the wave, her girlfriend and my friend who punched me in the water.

I swam out to see what was going on and I didn’t fully understand what had happened. I lost my mind and spoke with disrespect,” she said.