Maldives' Yoosuf Kayan Hamdan Zaki concluded his journey in the Asian Surfing Championships Junior Under-18 Men's division, after reaching the semi-final.
This is the first time a Maldivian surfer has reached the semi-finals in the junior division. Even though he didn't make it to the finals, Kayan has proven that there is hope for the young generation of Maldivian surfers.
Last year, the Maldivian youth team participated in an international tournament for the first time, with athletes advancing to the third round of the repechage.
In this year's competition, five junior surfers participated. Kayan Zaki, Sayyid Salahuddin, and Kayan Abdullah Areef made it to the quarterfinals, while Mohamed Inaan Abdul Hannan and Yaseen Ahmed Nashid concluded their run in the third round.
In the second heat of the semi-finals this morning, Kayan scored 5.87 points, while Kishore Kumar from India, who placed ahead of him, scored 8.26 points.
Last year, Kishore Kumar participated in the final heat of the repechage, which served as the semi-final for the competition.
In the first heat of the semi-finals, Taro Takai with 14.50 points and Chengzeng Wang from China with 10 points both advanced to the final.
From the first heat, Japan's Kaisei Adachi and the Philippines' Troy Espejon also advanced to the final. Kaisei, who had finished fourth in last year's final heat, topped the semi-final this year with a score of 16.50 points, while Troy, in second place, scored 11.84 points.
In the junior final held at noon, Taro emerged as the champion with a score of 16.50. Kaisei, who came in second, finished closely behind Taro with 16.17 points. Troy and Chengzeng Wang, who placed third and fourth respectively, were unable to match the scores of Taro and Kaisei. Troy scored 8.76, while Chengzeng scored 8.16.
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