World Surfing League event to be held in India for 1st time; UNESCO Heritage town Mamallapuram to host

In a big boost to the Olympic sport in India, the country is gearing up to host its first-ever World Surf League (WSL) event at the UNESCO Heritage Town of Mamallapuram (around 50kms fromthe capital city Chennai) in Tamil Nadu. Arun Vasu, Presidentof the Surfing Federation of India, told WION that thesurfing competition which is scheduled between 14th-20th August is expected to attract almost 100 surfers from across 14 nations and a dozen surfers from across India. The upcoming event is titled 'International Surf Open - Tamil Nadu' and is expected to expose foreign surfers to the sport in Indian waters, popularise the niche sport in India and offer a huge platform for the country's emerging surfing talent.

Recalling how the surfing culture began in Tamil Nadu, Vasu said that it was initiated a decade ago as a social project to empower the fisherfolk and their families, who lived along Kovalam and Mamallapuram, near Chennai.

"Today, Tamil Nadu is the leading state in surfing and the highest number of India's national surfing champions are from here. The most number of surfing schools are also here. Kerala, Karnataka and Goa are also actively contributing to surfing," he said.

Tamil Nadu's Sports & Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said that the State Government has sanctioned INR 2.67 croreor approximately $300,000for the event, which will be the first-of-its-kind in India. "19 of the 20 top surfers in India are from Tamil Nadu," he said. He added that this will be the second International sporting event to be hosted in the iconic seaside town, after the FIDE International Chess Olympiad in 2022.

The World Surf League is the governing body for professional surfers and their WSL Championship Tour is the premier surfing event for top talent. Simply put, the WSL Championship Tour is similar to the ATP/WTA tour in tennis. Queried about the Mamallapuram event, Vasu, who also heads the Tamil Nadu Surfing Association, told WION that it would be a 'QS 3000' (qualifying series) event. He explained that there are four QS events '1000, 3000, 5000 and 10000', each of which provides a higher level of competition than its predecessor. Even the surfers who are ineligible for the Championship Tour can compete in the QS events and earn points towards taking part in the following year's Championship Tour.

In the run-up to the WSL QS3000 event in Mamallapuram, the Surfing Federation of India will be hosting a series of surfing events in India, thereby providing wildcard entries to the QS3000 event for the top 10 Indian surfers. Similar QS3000 qualifying events are also to be held in venues in the US, Japan, and Portugal.

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