Kelly Slater's loss is Australian young gun Mikey Wright's gain.
Wright gets the chance to consolidate his claims to a fulltime berth on surfing's World Championship Tour next year when he replaces the legendary American in the field at fearsome Teahupoo in Tahiti.
Making great use of wildcard entries, 21-year-old Wright is ninth on the WCT points standings with five of the 11 events remaining following third placings at the two events in Bali in June.
He has been promoted to the main draw for Teahupoo, scheduled to start on Friday, after 11-times world champion Slater withdrew, not feeling ready despite attempting a comeback from a lingering foot injury at J-Bay in South Africa last month.
Also missing is defending world champion John John Florence, who remains sidelined with a knee injury suffered in Bali.
Right in the thick of the title hunt at No.2 in the rankings, Australia's Julian Wilson will be also defending the Teahupoo title he won last year.
However rankings leader Felipe Toledo has been leaving nothing to chance in his preparation.
The young Brazilian has been training at the challenging reef break for the past two weeks.
Third-placed Gabriel Medina of Brazil will also fancy his chances after finishing runner-up to Wilson at Teahupoo last year.
Share
