Mangalore, 28th May 2017: The second edition of the ‘Indian Open of Surfing’ came to a picturesque finish as the Sasihithlu beach revelled with cheers for the participating surfers in the finals today.
Maldivian surfer Ammaday surfed his way to glory clinching the winner’s cheque in the Open Category while Pondicherry’s Suhasini Damian emerged as the Champion in the Women’s category. Chennai surfers Venkat K and Sekar Patchai claimed the top spots in the Masters (30 and above) and Seniors (23 – 30 Years) categories respectively.
Kovallam surfers Ramesh and Ajeesh Ali sealed the winner's spot in the Juniors (17-22 Years) and Groms under 16 categories respectively. The Open category winner wins a cheque worth INR 50,000 while the Runners Up earns a total of INR 25,000.
The National Category winners earned a total of INR 25,000 while the second and third positions walked away with cheques worth INR 15,000 and INR 10,000 respectively. In the Novice Under- 14 category winners earned INR 10,000 while the second and third positions earned a total of INR 5,000 and INR 3,000 respectively.
What added to the celebrations for the locals and many surfing enthusiasts was a special visit by star cricketer Jonty Rhodes who himself is an avid surfer. Bollywood action superstar Suniel Shetty, who also hails from Mangalore, also paid a special visit cheering the participants of the second edition of the Indian Open of Surfing 2017.
The three-day premier surfing event, which concluded today at the Sasihithlu beach, Mangalore is a part of the Karnataka Beach Festival – A Karnataka Tourism Initiative, is recognised by the Surfing Federation of India and organised by the Mantra Surf Club in association with the Kanara Water Sports Promotion Council.
The final day of the event experienced testing conditions that ensured the surfers had to be at their best to leave lasting impressions on the judges with their skills and maneuvers. Maldivian Surfer Ammaday walked away with the pole position in the Open Category, while French surfer Perceval Fayon finished second.
The women’s category saw stiff competition but Pondicherry’s Suhasini Damian braved the waves to emerge as the winner, while Russian Olga Kosenko finished second and Manipal’s Ishita Malviya finished third.
Chennai’s Sekar Pitchai walked away with the winner’s cheque in the Men’s Stand Up Paddling (SUP) race. While Tamil Nadu’s Vignesh Vijay Kumar finished second. Kishore Kumar from Mangalore finished third in the Men’s SUP race.
Chennai surfers Venkat K and Murthy Mevagan stole the show in the Masters’ category (30 Years and above) finishing first and second respectively while Goan surfer Sandeep Samuel finished third.
The Seniors category (23 – 30 Years) saw domination from Chennai Surfers with the first, second and third positions going to Sekar Patchai, Varghese Antony and Dharani Selvakumar respectively.
Kovallam surfer Ramesh walked away emerged champion in the junior category (17 – 22 Years), while Surya P and Rahul Govind finished second and third respectively. In the Groms Under-16 category Kovallam’s Ajeesh Ali was crowned the national champion while Santosh Santha Kumar and Sivaraj Babu finished second and third respectively. In the Groms under 14 category, Akhilan emerged as the Champion with Subramani Muniyan finishing second and Abdul Rajak Jamaldeen finishing third.
Kishore Kumar, President, Surfing Federation of India, revealed after the tournament, “I would like to congratulate all the winners for their stupendous performance. I would also like to give a huge round of applause to all the participants as well for daring to brave the sea in difficult conditions. It is always special to see so many surfers come together for the Indian Open of Surfing.
“In only our second edition not only the surfing community in India but locals as well as the government has seen the potential of this event. Now with Surfing becoming a part of the Asian Games, I am extremely confident that events like these will add immense value towards preparing future surfers from India.”
He also thanked the sponsors of the event, “We are grateful to Government of Karnataka for their continued support. I would also like to thank our sponsors TT Group of companies, Union Bank of India and Trip 360 by Cox & Kings for their valued support in helping us in making this event a success.”
Earlier in the day, local residents at Sasihithlu beach in Mangalore were up for a surprise on Sunday morning. The beach unknown to many in the port city suddenly saw huge traffic and spectators in huge numbers from as early as 7 AM in the morning to witness the semi- finals and finals of Karnataka’s first ever surfing competition, the ‘Indian Open of Surfing’.
