Surfing: Teens Kishore Kumar, Kamali Moorthy champions

MANGALURU: Tamil Nadu’s teenage sensations, Kishore Kumar and Kamali Moorthy swept through the top honours in both the men’s and women’s categories—Groms and Open—to be crowned as the men’s and women’s champions respectively, in the 4th edition of Indian Open of Surfing on Saturday.
The three-day premier surfing competition of India, which was hosted by Mantra Surf Club at Sashithlu Beach, was supported by the Karnataka tourism department, and Cycle Pure Agarbattis and Jai Hind Group were the principal partners.

Kishore, won a cash prize of Rs 50,000, followed by Srikanth D (Rs 30,000) and Surya P (Rs 20,000) in the men’s open category. Kamali Moorthywas handed over a cheque of Rs 30,000, for securing first position in the women’s open category, followed by Sugar (Rs 20,000) and Sinchana (Rs 10,000) for second and third position, respectively. In groms, boys under-16 category, Kishore (Rs 20,000 ); Tayin Arun (Rs 15,000) and Harish P (Rs 10, 000) got the cash prizes for the top three positions. Similarly, girls under-16 saw Kamali, Thanishka and Saanvi winning the top three positions.
Former minister Abhaychandra Jain said, “Sasihithlu Beach is very prominent for the sport of surfing. I assure you all that for the next event, we will get the state tourism minister, and bring an international event to this venue.” The day began with the semifinals of the men’s open surf category, which saw Tamil Nadu’s teenager Kishore Kumar manouvering majestically on the water, thereby advancing to the finals with the highest score of 14 in the category, and was joined by Srikanth D (11.66), Surya P (11) and Sathish Saravanan (7.93). From there, Kishore never looked back, as the finals of the men’s open surf category were a treat to watch, where he emerged as a champion with a score of 15.67. Kishore said, “I would like to thank my coaches at Surf Turf for all the support. I am happy to win two titles in a day, and these wins will surely uplift my confidence to perform well in the upcoming championships and events.”
The surfing women’s open competition saw Tamil Nadu’s Kamali Moorthy,14, snatching the title from Goa’s surfer and defending champion Sugar Shanthi Banarse. Kamali who had initially registered for the surfing groms under-16 girl’s category, was brave enough to take the chance of competing in the women’s open category. She scored a total 12.07 points, while runner’s up Sugar Banarse earned 10.4 points. Karnataka’s Sinchana Gowda finished third with 5.93 points.
Kamali Moorthy also secured the title in the surfing groms under-16 girl’s category. Local girl, Thanishka Mendon from Aquatic Indica Surf School finished as the runner’s- up with a total of 6.43 points. Another Mangalorean surfer, Saanvi Hegde, finished third with a total of 6 points.