Taming the waves at Indian open of surfing 2017

The inaugural day of the three-day surf festival saw music, dance, food and much more as surfers took to the waves.

The second edition of Indian Open of Surfing was inagurated with much fanfare at the Sasihithlu beach near Mangaluru on Friday. National and international surfers tamed extreme tide on a new moon day to kick start the three-day surfing festival.

9 international surfers at event

Professional surfers from across country as well as nine international surfers took part in the festival on day 1. Surfers across categories were given 15 minutes each to compete under the vicious new moon say waves. The rough sea proved to be a challenge but surfers taming the wild waves was a sight to behold. The event was inagurated by district in-charge minister Ramanath Rai with dancers and musicians adding colour to the event.

Rough seas on day one

Extreme tide conditions threatened to dampen the spirits of organisers and participants on day one. Soon after surf board adventure enthusiasts took the waters, all seemed well. Participants competed under various categories in prelims held in Friday. Qualified participants will move on to semi-finals and finals that will be held on Saturday and Sunday. Participants competed in multiple rounds to avoid elimination to qualify to higher rounds. The top two for each pool move to round two which will then lead to semis and finals.

World surfing league to be held

In what comes as good news for surfing enthusiasts, world surfing league would he held between May 25 and 27 in 2019. The massive success and response that the surfing festival has received has enthused organisers to go one step ahead. After two years of successful organisation of the surfing festival in Karnataka, the state government now wants to take it to the world league level.

Champions in each category

Surfers are competing under categories of U-14, U-16, seniors (23-30 years), masters (30+) years and open categories. Participants are also competing in Stand Up Paddling Championship for women. Moorthy Megavan, Sandeep Samuel, Mukesh Panjanathan, A Venkatesan, Velmurugan and K Vengat have emerged winners of masters category and will compete in semi-finals.

Seniors rule the seas

26 participants competed in the seniors category with 15 qualifying for the next round. In the open category, 13 surfers from France, Maldives, Madagascar and India participated. Surfers from Maldives and France got through to the next round.

Pic courtesy: Facebook page of Indian Open of Surfing

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