Shark Attack Victim Has Surgery

Illawarra Mercury

Wednesday November 5, 2003

LIHUE, Hawaii.- The 13-year-old surfing star who lost her left arm in a shark attack last week off Kauai was in a stable condition after a second operation.

The surgery to close and clean Bethany Hamilton's wound was successful and the girl may be able to return to her Princeville home this week, according to Lani Yukimura, the spokeswoman for Wilcox Memorial Hospital.

Hamilton was attacked last Friday about 400m off Makua Beach near Haena. Her arm, bit off near the shoulder, was not recovered and officials said the shark had not been spotted again.

Wildlife experts estimated the tiger shark to be around 4.2m long, based on the massive chunk taken out of Bethany's surfboard.

Bethany was a competitive surfer who already had secured sponsorships and was expected to go pro.

The shark attack was Hawaii's fourth this year. The last shark attack was October 5, when a woman was bitten while swimming near Kihei on Maui, officials said.

CYCLING

Tasmanian grabs stage win

TASMANIAN Sean Sullivan snatched victory in the second stage of the Tour of Queensland cycle race yesterday, beating off four other riders in a tough uphill sprint to the finish.

Sullivan broke away with four other riders in the last 26km of the 101km stage from Rosedale to the Town of 1770 and managed to shake them off in the final kilometre uphill dash to cross the line four seconds clear.

Belgium's Bart Heirewegh finished second in the stage and more importantly moved into the overall race lead after starting the stage 14 seconds behind overnight leader, Canadian Eric Wohlberg.

Third was Jindrich Vana (Czech Republic) with Victorian David McKenzie fourth, who moved up to second overall behind the Belgian.

Riders attacked almost from the start of the stage, with a tailwind helping the race split into four bunches. A group of 11 riders got away to a good lead about halfway through the race, but they were eventually reeled in.