Indian open of Surfing: Tamil Nadu surfers dominate on Day 2

MANGALURU: Tamil Nadu surfers dominated the proceedings on day two of the 4th Indian open of Surfing being held at Sasihithlu beach. Karnataka’s Sinchana Gowda and Pradeep Pujar kept the host’s hopes afloat as they booked their slot in the finals of the Women’s Open and Groms (under 16) Boys category respectively.

The highlight of the day however were Tamil Nadu surfers Srikanth D and Kishore Kumar as the former scored the highest points 13 in the men’s open category while the latter scored 11.67 points, the highest in the Groms (under 16) boys category. Sugar Banarse from Goa scored the highest points in the women’s open category gathering a total of 10.17.

The day began with the semifinal encounter in the women’s open surf category which saw 17-year-old Sugar Banarse gathering the highest points (10.17). Sugar will look forward to defending her title on Saturday. Tamil Nadu’s Kamali Moorthy (8.50) and Shrishti Selvam (4.74) along with Karnataka’s Sinchana Gowda (5.17) were among the other three surfers who advanced to the finals. Kamali will also compete in the finals of the groms (under 16 ) girls surf category on Saturday.

Sugar said, “I feel elated to be in the finals and there is a little pressure on me as well as I would be having the responsibility to defend my title, given the tough competition and conditions.”

In the Men’s Open Category, 28 surfers battled it out to enter the knock-out rounds where Srikanth D (13), Kishore Kumar (11.66), Surya P (8.20), Maninkandan I (7.36), Manivannan T (7.33), Manikandan M (7.03), Raghul Paneerselvam(6.97) Selvam M (6.76), Dinesh Selvamani(6.63), Sathish Sarvanan(6.47) SanjaiKumar S(6.37), Ruban V(6.04), Santosh M(5.77), Subramani M(4.64) were amongst the surfers who outshone their competitors to book their quarterfinal berths.

Later in the day, the quarterfinals saw Sanjaikumar S, Srikanth D, Raghul Paneerselvam, Sathhish Sarvanan, Manikandan M, Kishore Kumar, Santhosh M and Surya P advancing to the semis, scheduled on Saturday.

Srikanth D top scorer for the day, said that the waves were comparatively smaller than the previous day

The Groms Boys (U16) category semifinals saw Tamil Nadu boys rocking. Kishore emerged as the highest scorer in his category for a second consecutive day (11.67). Tayin Arun with 9.17 score and Harish P with 6.33 score from Tamil Nadu booked their final berths. Karnataka’s only hope Pradeep Pujar scored 4.30 to reach the finals.

The final day will witness the semi-finals and finals of the men’s open surf category along with the finals of the Groms Boys and Girls (under 16) and finals of the women’s open surf categories.

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