World News for Students of English

23-07-2015 07:00

An Australian surfer remarkably survived a shark attack unscathed after fighting off the circling predator with his fists.

Mick Fanning was preparing for Sunday’s final of the World Surfing League’s J-Bay Open, at Jeffrey’s Bay in South Africa, when the unidentified species of shark surfaced next to him, knocking him off his board. But the three-time world surfing champion managed to escape after punching the shark away.

“I was just sitting there. I was just about to start moving and then I felt something grab, like got stuck in my leg, and I instantly just jumped like a lion and it just kept coming at my board, and I was kicking and screaming… Wow!”

“See some teeth? Get some teeth”

“I just saw the fins. I didn’t see the teeth. I was waiting for the teeth to come out there as I was swimming, and AHH!”

“Did you gett a couple punches in?”

“I punched it in the back, yes!”

The incident was broadcast on live television and led to the postponement of the event.

South Africa’s waters are among the most shark-infested in the world. A swimmer was killed by a Great White close to Jeffrey’s Bay in 2013.

Difficult words: remarkably (surprisingly), unscathed (not injured), species (animal kind), surface (to come up), grab (to hold strongly), fin (a part of a fish which it uses for swimming), postponement (to change the date or time of something to later).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com