Sinchana Gowda and Tanvi J. from Mangaluru and Chinmayee Mayya from Udupi made a mark in the maiden Indian Open of Surfing held at Sasihithlu beach near here. The three-day event concluded on Sunday.
Ms. Gowda and Ms. Tanvi stood first and third respectively, while Ms. Mayya finished second in women surfing in all age category. Their positions interchanged in the stand-up peddling event for women in which Ms. Tanvi finished first while Ms. Gowda came third. Vilassini Sundar from Chennai finished third in this event.
Ms. Gowda and Ms. Tanvi have undergone surfing training at the Mantra Surf Club, which is the co-host of the three-day event.
As many as 95 surfers from different parts of the country and abroad took part in the three-day event organised jointly by Dakshina Kannada district administration, Tourism Department, Surfing Federation of India, Mantra Surf Club and the newly-formed Kanara Surfing and Water Sports Promotion Council.
In the open category surfing, Samai Reboul from Auroville stood first, while Manikandan from Chennai and Bazile Pinel stood second and third respectively.
In the surfing for Under 16 category, Perceval Fayon from Puducherry stood first followed by Sanjay Selvamani and Manikandan from Tamil Nadu in the second and third place respectively. Raghul Govind, Surya P. and Ajith Kumar, all from Chennai, finished first, second and third in the surfing for juniors (17-22 years) category.
In the seniors (23-28 years) category, Dharani Selvakumar, Raghul Paneer and Manikandan D., all from Chennai came first, second and third respectively. In the Masters (29 and above) category, Moorthy Megavan from Chennai came first, while Santosh Moorthy from Mahabalipuram and Velu from Puducherry came second and third respectively. In the men’s stand-up paddling category, Sekhar Pachai stood first, while Murthy Meghavan and Vicky V. came second and third respectively.
Mr. Reboul, the winner in open category, was given a prize money of Rs. 50,000, while the runners-up received Rs. 25,000.
The first, second and third place holders in the remaining categories were given a prize money of Rs. 25,000, Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 10,000 respectively.
People turned up in good numbers on all the three days of the event. Organisers and police had a hard time controlling traffic movement on the narrow stretch of road leading to the beach on Saturday evening. However, traffic was regulated on Sunday.
