Of the 21 teams from around the world that migrated to New Zealand to compete at the ISA World Junior Games, the rosters have been whittled down to a small handful of the usual suspects. And despite the inspiring performances by the Japanese and French teams--mark my words, Dimitri Ouvre has a major future in this sport--the likes of the USA, Hawaii and Australia are standing strong for medal contention with one day of competition left.

Amid a seemingly endless barrage of mouth-watering lefts, the games saw the best surf of the event unfold yesterday with a number of surfers slotting themselves to the tune of high 8s and 9s. Of those donning tubes at the games, the aforementioned French surfer, Dimitri Ouvre, looked way too comfortable pulling in and would throw down one of the best performances of the event.

Never one to be upstaged by the French, Kolohe Andino, a grom who couldn't epitomize California more if he tried, proved that he is worthy of the hype that precedes his name once again when he went well past vertical on his back hands in waves that appeared eerily reminiscent of claim-worthy day at Mundaka. Andino, along with an astounding two other teammates (Trevor Thorton and Jake Halstead) will be surfing in one of the final rounds of the repercharge and looking to final when they surf tomorrow.

Moving forward to the final day of competition, as of press time, Hawaii is in the lead with Australia and New Zealand biting on their leash-tanned heals. Reigning champ Keanu Asing of Ewa Beach had his work cut out for him as he cut through three rounds of competition to find himself once again in the final rounds of the contest.

"I'm so tired," Asing said. "I surfed through like three heats. It was tough. I just gave it my best and got through."

The final fat from the event will be trimmed tomorrow. Will it be the USA, Australia or the Hawaiians donning some gold on the podium? You'll have to come right back here to check it out.

Here are the current team standings heading into the final day of the event:

01 - Haw - 6420
02 - Aus - 6405
03 - USA - 5853
04 - Fra - 4845
05 - Zaf - 4763
06 - NZL - 4575
07 - Por - 4235
08 - Tah - 4168
09 - Jap - 3435
10 - Per - 3241
11 - UK - 2775
12 - Spn - 2690
13 - Arg - 2650
14 - Bra - 2508
15 - Ecu - 1865
16 - Ind - 1620
17 - Mex - 1350
18 - Can - 675
19 - Ita - 475
20 - Fij - 210
21 - Van - 165