Overwhelming number of entries for Surfing Nationals
Kavindu Tharaka surfs the waves in Arugam Bay as surfing returns to eastern coast following the COVID enforced long break. Pic by Inna Rabotyagina
The Open and National Surfing Championship 2020 set off yesterday at the surfing point in Arugam Bay with an overwhelming number of participants. The day’s activities began with heats of both categories – Open and National, with a sub-category included for women.
The Surfing Federation of Sri Lanka (SFSL) anticipated 80 entries in both categories, but with the high demand, it had to curtail a number of entries from the Nationals. By the deadline for calling in entries falling on Thursday, the SFSL had received confirmation from a total of 109 surfers.
SFSL president Hiran Ukwatte confirmed that they were able to finalise the draw for the Open category without much hindrance, but the National category included the most number of entries, with 78.
“We informed the local clubs to send in 10 entries each, but there were lot of inquiries from the local fraternity. Some clubs had sent in more entries than the limit, and eventually we had to inform the local clubs to restrict them,” Ukwatte said.
As expected by the organisers, the Open category which was for foreigners based here or remaining in Sri Lanka due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had attracted 31 surfers in total from 12 countries. The organisers had to split the Open category into two, to include the women surfers both foreign and local.
“We expected 32 in total for the Open and now 17 men will compete separately while the remaining 14 will contest under the Women’s category. It’s a great response being given to the current situation in the country and internationally,” he said.
The Open and National Surfing Championship 2020 will not include surfers from 13 countries including Sri Lanka. Surfers in contention from other countries are France, Australia, Israel, Argentina, Russia, Poland, South Africa, United States of America, Spain, Estonia, Italy and Belgium.
The event is a collaboration of SFSL and Lanka Sportreizen (LSR) with the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, Ministry of Tourism and the two sponsors – Mobitel and Lin Asia Holdings, coming on board as partners.
As expected by the organisers, the event has managed to attract the targeted starving local surfers and more importantly foreigners, who are held up in Sri Lanka due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event also comes as a mega boost for the surfers based in the eastern coastal surfing joint in Arugam Bay.
The Arugam Bay event will be the third and final instalment of the National Surfing Championship, next to the first leg held earlier in Hikkaduwa and the second held in Madiha, Matara before the outbreak of the pandemic. The national surfing rankings will be upgraded after this event.
The final stages of the competition will be held today from the quarter-final stages, followed by the awards ceremony at the surfing point in Arugam Bay.