Mudray leads SA juniors to top-five finish

TEENAGE angler Jeariya Mudray, from the Bluff, helped lead the Proteas Surf Casting Junior Team to an impressive fifth-place finish at the recent World Shore Angling Championship for Youth (U-16) in Peniscola, Spain, against 40 top young anglers from Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, Ireland and England.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

Jeariya was the captain and most experienced member of the SA team that included Kaiden Pillay, Sheldon Gough, Ezra Stephen, Dali Matsha, and Samual Forbes, who were chosen at a national junior tournament in Durban earlier in the year.

Jeariya's dad, Keith Mudray, was the coach of the team. He explained that the facet of fishing used at the World Junior Champs is commonly known as pegged fishing, because anglers are restricted to fishing between two pegs that are 23m to 30m apart, with points awarded for species caught and the length of the fish. All participants use the same bait and more productive areas of the surf get awarded lower points to increase the fairness of the competition.