Surfing: K’taka lad is new nat’l champ in men’s open category

Mangaluru: In a sensational finish, Karnataka’s Ramesh Budhial snatched away victory from the lap of Tamil Nadu’s Ajeesh Ali to be crowned the new national champion in the men’s open surf category on the final day of the third edition of the Indian Open of Surfing held at Panambur beach on Sunday.
Sugar Banarse and Sofiya Sharma emerged national champions in the women’s open and groms girls 16 and under categories respectively, while Tamil Nadu’s Kishore Kumar became the national champion in the groms boys 16 and under category.
In the final moments of the finals, Ramesh Budhial caught a wave to display some breath-taking manoeuvres, helping him clinch victory. Ramesh finished with a total score of 16.33, while runner up Ajeesh Ali finished with 15.67 points. Sathish Sarvanan finished third with 13 points. Ramesh said, “The field was tough, and Ajeesh was spectacular, but I was here today to put in my best effort.”
In the women’s open surf competition, Goa’s 16-year-old Sugar Banarse walked away with the national championship crown. Sugar who had initially registered for the groms girls 16 and under category and was brave enough to take the chance of competing in the Women’s open category and impressed everyone with her skills and surfing from the start. Sugar scored a total of 14.5 points while runner’s up Srishti Selvam earned 13.4 points. Karnataka’s Sinchana Gowda finished third with 10.2 points.
Sugar said, “The waves were tough and the competition tougher, but I am happy that I could convert my training into action.”
In the groms boys (U-16) surf category, Chennai’s Kishore Kumar earned the national champion title with 14.84 points. Tamil Nadu’s Naveenkumar R and Jeevan S finished as the runner up and the third position with a score of 11.73 and 9.4 points respectively. Goa’s Sofiya Sharma walked away with the national champion’s crown in the first-ever groms Girls 16 and under surf category. Sofiya earned 18.5 points, the highest score of the tournament.
Thanishka Mendon, the youngest participant in the tournament at nine years from Mangaluru, finished as the runner’s up with 12.23 points and Saanvi Hegde, also from Mangaluru, was third with 11.33 points.
At the Expression Race where the winners and runners up of the men’s open and groms boys competed against each other, Ramesh Budhial emerged victorious followed by Ajeesh Ali. Arun Vasu, president, Surfing Federation of India (SFI), said, “With the LA Olympics in sight, we are working hard to identify young and upcoming surfers and the quality and skill at display today only gives me the confidence to keep believing in our objectives.”
Meanwhile, SUP (technical race) was also held.