Joan Duru (Hossegor, FRA), 20, who just recovered from a knee injury after a month of rehabilitation in Capbreton, has been awarded a replacement wildcard to participate in the Bilabong Pro J-Bay, stop No. 4 of this year's ASP World Tour.

Duru, who missed his elite inception by one spot in 2009 after a fantastic year that saw him win two ASP Star Series events in Europe (Protest Vendee Pro and Sooruz Lacanau Pro), hs been offered this deserved invite to replace Kai Otton (New South Wales, AUS) who pulled out of the event due to injury.

With five days to go before Duru joins fellow European members of the elite ASP Top 45, the young talented goofy-foot will get straight into world class surfing action at one of the world's best performance waves. Representing France with longtime elite surfer Jeremy Flores (Capbreton, FRA), Duru will have nothing to lose when he meets with local star and current ASP World Tour No. 2 Jordy Smith (Durban, ZAF) and Roy Powers (Kauai, HAW).

While Duru will be experiencing a solid start against top seeds, the rest of the European contingent is already preparing for some crucial battle at the Billabong Pro J-Bay, the event being the second-to-last before the elite field reduces dramatically from the renowned ASP Top 45 to a new elite ASP Top 32.

Confident after his good start this year, Frenc Polynesian Michel Bourez (Tahiti, PYF) will be eager to repeat his result from 2009, an equal 9th place finish after eliminating ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (Gold Coast, AUS) and netting his first perfect 10-point ride in an ASP World Tour event.

Also in good position, Tiago Pires (Ericeira, PRT) and Jeremy Flores will be focused on getting through first rounds of competition and avoid a drop in the world title race rankings.