Surfers from Kovalam near Chennai stole the limelight at the third edition of the International Surfing competition, which concluded at the southern end of the Puducherry beach on Sunday.
They finished on the podium in a number of categories at the finals of the competitions held from August 22. Surfers from Kerala and the Kallialay Surf School were among the winners. Raghul from Kovalam won the Best Move Surfer award while Ramesh from Kerala walked away with the Most Promising Indian surfer.
Suhasini from Kallialay School clinched the first prize in the women’s category. “I have been surfing for the last two years and feel great on bagging the first prize. I think surfing is booming and will open the doors to a lot of Indian girls like me,” she said.
While Appas Ali from Kovalam walked away with the top honours in the under-16 category, Percy from Kovalam was the runner-up in the category. In the senior category, Juan Reboul got the first prize and Murthy from Kovalam, second.
More than 70 surfers from across the country and abroad participated in the contest. The fine weather and the waves provided another day of ideal surfing conditions and the turnout on Sunday was big. Tourism Minister P. Rajavelu presented trophies, cash awards and certificates to the winners.
