Mangalore, May 27 (Bureau) The third edition of Indian Open of surfing marked its beginning on Friday morning under challenging conditions here at the Panambur beach. The event is being hosted by the Mantra Surf Club from May 27 to 29. The three-day premier surfing competition is the official national championship of the Surfing Federation of India (SFI). Tamil Nadu surfers dominated the proceedings in both the Men’s open and Groms (U16) categories on the opening day. A total of 16 surfers from the men’s open surf category will battle it out in the quarterfinals to book a slot in the semi-finals.
The quarter finalists in the men’s open category are Manikandan D, Raghul P, Surya P, Srikanth D, Harish M, Ruban V, Vignesh V, Sathish Saravanan, Ajeesh Ali, Sivaraj Babu, Manikandan M, Manivannan T, Nithishvarun T, Ramesh Budhial, Sanjaikumar S and Santhosan S. The Groms (U16) category saw a clean sweep by Tamil Nadu surfers as seven of the eight semifinalists came from the state. Local boy Likhit S is the only semifinalist in the category to keep Karnataka’s hopes alive. The other seven semifinalists are Kishore Kumar, Jeevan S, Logesh S, Naveenkumar R, Jeevanathan I, Tayin Arun and Ranjith Kumar. Chennai’s Groms surfer, Kishore Kumar, stunned everyone with his performance under testing conditions as he made his way into the semifinals with the highest score of 14.50 today. The other surfers who got high scores from the judges were Manikandan D (12.6), Ramesh Budhial (12.33), Surya P (11.9), Sathish Saravanan (11.9) and Ajeesh Ali (11.66). Speaking after sealing a semifinal slot, Surfing Federation of India’s future talent programme scholar Kishore Kumar said: “I wasn’t surfing at my best today, as the waves are different than what I am used to back home in Chennai. However, I am happy that I could do well and find my space in the semifinals. “I hope tomorrow when I take on the waves, I am much more comfortable and can give in a better performance and find a space in the finals day after.”