PANAJI
Goan girls Sugar Banarase (16) and Sofiya Sharma (14) won gold medals in the recently concluded Indian Open of Surfing held at Panambur beach, near Mangalore.
The three-day event which saw participation of close to 100 surfers from across India, was organised jointly by the Surfing Federation of India (SFI) and the Mantra Surf Club. The Goa-based girls are students of coach Edy Rodrigues, founder and director of the Octopus Surf School in Morjim.
According to a media release by Octopus Surf School, Sugar won the first place in the women’s open category, while Sofiya won first place in the under-16 girls category.
A happy coach Rodrigues said, “These wins are very important as it is Sofiya’s first national competition and Sugar’s second, big national victory. These wins have put Goa on the India surfing map and will encourage more girls to take to surfing."
According to Rodrigues, the event was special as the best surfers from across India participated in it. While Sugar won the gold in the women’s open category, Shrishti Selvam of Tamil Nadu won silver and Karnataka’s Sinchana Gowda won the bronze.
Meanwhile in the men’s open surfing category, Ramesh Budhial of Karnataka outwitted Tamil Nadu’s Ajeesh Ali for gold, while Sathish Saravanan had to be content with the bronze medal. The Tamil Nadu surfers dominated the national competition, winning six medals, Karnataka came second with five medals and Goa stood third with two gold medals.
