Mangaluru, May 28 (Agencies): Maldives surfer Ammaday surfed his way to glory and the winners cheque in the Open category of the second edition of the Indian Open of Surfing competition at Sasithlu beach here on Sunday.
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 hails from Mangaluru, 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, Mangaluru is a part of the Karnataka Beach Festival – A Karnataka Tourism Initiative, is recognized by the Surfing Federation of India and organized by the Mantra Surf Club in association with the Kanara Water Sports Promotion Council.
Maldives surfer Ammaday surfed his way to glory and the winners cheque in the Open category of the competition.
The Open category winner was awarded a cheque worth Rs 50,000 while runner-up French surfer Perceval Fayon earned Rs 25,000.
Pondicherry's Suhasini Damian emerged the champion in the Women's category while Tamil Nadu surfers Venkat K. and Sekar Patchai claimed the top spots in the Masters (30 years and above) and Seniors (23-30 years) categories, respectively.
The women's category saw stiff competition but Puducherry girl Suhasini braved the waves to emerge as the winner, while Russian Olga Kosenko finished second and Manipal's Ishita Malviya finished third.
Sekar walked away with the winners 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's Venkat K. and Murthy Mevagan stole the show in the Masters category finishing first and second respectively while Goan surfer Sandeep Samuel finished third.
The Seniors category saw domination from Chennai Surfers with the first, second and third positions going to Sekar, Varghese Antony and Dharani Selvakumar respectively.
Kovallam surfer Ramesh walked away emerged champion in the junior category, 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.
The National Category winners earned a total of Rs 25,000 while the second and third positions walked away with cheques worth Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.
In the Novice Under-14 category, Akhilan emerged the champion with Subramani Muniyan finishing second and Abdul Rajak Jamaldeen finishing third respectively.
Akhilan took home a cheque of Rs 10,000 while Subramani and Abdul were richer by Rs 5,000 and Rs 3,000 respectively.
"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," said Kishore Kumar, President of Surfing Federation of India, who himself bagged the third spot in Men's Stand-up Paddling race.
"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 added.
Jonty Rhodes asks fans to take push-up challenge for every selfie!
Former South Africa cricketer Jonty Rhodes, who was the chief guest at the second edition of the Indian Open of Surfing at the Sasithlu beach here on Sunday, displayed a unique style to promote fitness in India.
A surfer by hobby nowadays, Rhodes, who bid adieu to his international career way back in 2003, on Sunday asked every fan to take a push-up challenge for each selfie they demanded with the star fielder.
Rhodes, who is now the fielding coach of three-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians, took everyone by surprise when he himself sat down to take a selfie with the participants.
Each participant was asked to do 10 push-ups in return for a selfie with the South African, who is also an avid surfer.
Commenting on his experience at the Indian Open of Surfing, the ace cricketer credited the IPL and his association with the Mumbai franchise for bringing him closer to the adventure sport.
"It is due to my association with the IPL, that I have visited a lot many of the surfing spots in the country, which I dearly love," Rhodes told IANS here.
Rhodes also gave an account of the types of tides he found internationally in comparison to Indian waters.
"From 2004, I started surfing along with my wife (Melanie), as we reside in a sea-facing place back home. Initially it was kind of difficult to keep control over the tides, but gradually we succeeded," he said.
"I have now experienced surfing in many places around the world. The wind and tide differ from places. I surfed in Vizag and it was great there too... here the tide looks great for surfing. I am sure the young Indian surfers can benefit a lot from such experiences at the Indian Open," he signed off.