Over 70 top surfers from across the country have confirmed their participation for the third edition of the Indian Open of Surfing 2022. The three-day competition that will be hosted by the Mantra Surf Club here at the Panambur Beach from Mangalore from the 27-29th May 2022 is organized by the Surfing Federation of India. Defending Champions D Manikandan and Shrishti Selvam will also be seen in action in an effort to defend their titles over the weekend.
Arun Vasu, President of SFI said "This edition of Indian Open will be more focused on having a structured contest based on the performances of the previous events. It is encouraging to see how the participation has spread across various places and not concentrated to one place."
Surfers will compete in two disciplines viz; Surfing and Stand Up Paddling, across different categories which are: Male Open, Female Open, Male and Female Groms (U - 16), Male 17+ Surf.
"I don't feel the pressure of defending the national title. I will be doing my best and concentrating on my performance for the surf contest", said D. Manikandan, defending national champion.
The defending National Women's Champion Shrishti Selvam said "It is going to be a very tough and challenging field of surfers this year and I am happy that more women are participating in the sport. It will be a fun contest and I will be doing my best to defend the title".
D Manikandan and Shrishti Selvam of Tamil Nadu will be defending their titles in the men's and women's categories respectively. Shanti Banarse of Goa and Sinchana Gowda of Karnataka will be the other top surfers competing for the title in the women's category while Nithishvarun T and Babu Sivaraj of Tamil Nadu are expected to give a tough competition to D Manikandan for the Men's title. Kishore Kumar and Tayin Arun of Tamil Nadu are the favourites in the Groms (U16) category.
( With inputs from ANI )
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