Sugar Shanti Banarse, 15, Goa's silver medal-winning surfer in action. Captured by : The Goan
PANAJI
Teenaged surfer Sugar Shanti Banarse (15) of Goa has bagged the silver medal in the women’s open category of Covelong Classic National Surf and SUP (stand-up paddling) championships 2021 held in Kovalam, Tamil Nadu between August 9-11.
The event organised by Surf Turf in collaboration with the Surfing Federation of India assumes importance considering that the sport of surfing has made its Olympic debut in Tokyo this year.
Sugar, a resident of Alto Porvorim, beat back many experienced surfers to win a podium position. According to her coach Edy Rodrigues, there was a combined category for women of all age groups. Tamil Nadu surfers, Shristhi Selvam and D Manikandan emerged winners in the women’s and men’s categories respectively.
Sugar has been training with her Goan coach Rodrigues of the Octopus Surf School at Morjim for the last three years.
Rodrigues started his school in 2015 with the main objective of building a surf community in Goa. “Right now, we have more than 30 young students aged below the age of 16 training with me. We also have a lot of regular adults getting into the sport,” Rodrigues said.
Sugar is very happy with her performance and said, “This was an amazing experience and I am looking forward to my next competition. I plan to put more time into surfing and encourage more girls to take up the sport.”
