Indian Open Surfing brings surfing enthusiasts from across the country to Mangaluru Premium

In order to spend some time with his friends in this coastal city, Gowda and his four friends from Bengaluru recently visited the city during the Mangaluru round of the 5th Indian Open Surfing series held at the pristine Sasihitlu beach, 5 km off National Highway 66 at Mukka on the outskirts of Mangaluru.

Mangaluru is not new to Kushal Gowda, a builder and resident of Jayanagar 5th block in Bengaluru. He stayed in this coastal city for two years his college days, a decade ago.

In order to spend some time with his friends in this coastal city, Gowda and his four friends from Bengaluru recently visited the city during the Mangaluru round of the 5th Indian Open Surfing series held at the pristine Sasihitlu beach, 5 km off National Highway 66 at Mukka on the outskirts of Mangaluru.

Having learnt surfing a year ago, Gowda and his friends took surf boards on rent and joined other surfing enthusiasts to enjoy surfing at one part of Sasihitlu beach. Gowda and friends then had first hand glimpse of the skills of surfers from across the country who took part in the surfing competition held between May 31 to June 2.

A good number surfers from Karnataka, Tamilnadu and other parts of the county took part in this premier event that was organised by Surfing Foundation of India (SFI) in association with Surfing Swami Foundation and Mantra Surf Club.

“When we held the first event in 2010-11 in Sasihitlu, there were only a few active surfers. Now there are more than 4,000 active surfers spread across the country and their skill sets are really unmatched,” said SFI Contest Director Kiran Kumar, who was among the first few professional surfers of the county.

Surfers from Tamil Nadu dominated in the three-day event. They swept the top honors in all the four categories - Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Groms Boys & U-16 and Groms Girls & U-16. Ajeesh Ali, who competed in the Paris Olympics and qualifiers last year, was crowned as the new champion in the Men’s Open category. Teenage sensation Kamali Moorthi was topper in the Women’s Open and Groms Girls & U-16 categories. Another teenager Tayin Arun was adjudged champion in the Groms Boys & U-16 category.

Thrilled over being crowned as a champion in the Men’s Open category, Ajeesh Ali said with slow waves it was in challenging conditions in the which the final event was held. “I had a board specifically for such conditions. The competition was fierce as my fellow surfers were among the best in the country,” he said. Ali has been a regular visitor to Sashitlu. “The waves here are not consistent. Sasihitlu is ideal for training in surfing,” he said.