Japanese surfer, Mirai Ikeda has emerged the champion of the female opens while Indonesian surfer, I Made Pajar Ariana clinched victory in the men's open of the Asian Surfing Championship 2024.
Japanese surfer, Mirai Ikeda has emerged the champion of the female opens while Indonesian surfer, I Made Pajar Ariyana clinched victory in the men's open of the Asian Surfing Championship 2024.
The preceding championship was also triumphed by an Indonesian male surfer and a female Japanese surfer.
The former champion, Danny Vidianto had crashed out of the tournament following a fierce battle in the semifinals.
Japanese surfers, Ikko Watanabe and Taki Kanazawa also rode the final waves of the tournament yesterday alongside Pajar.
Watanabe, who was placed under the former bronze medalist and current coach of the Maldivian surfing team, Hussain Areef (Ibu) during last year's championship had clinched third place in the final heat with 11.80 points. Kanazawa, who finished last had collected 12.93 points.
Meanwhile, Japanese surfer, Anri Matsuno placed second in the female open category. Siqi Yang, a Chinese national clinched third with 8.16 points which Indonesian surfer, Taina Angel Izquierdo followed behind in fourth place.
Local surfers to advance furthest include male surfer, Hood Ahmed (Hoobz) who held on as far as the quarter finals while local female surfer Mariyam Rahil Naseem (Aya) endured longest in the womens opens, surfing the third round heats.
Maldives has secured slots at the largest regional multisport event, Asian Games 2026 set to be hosted in Aichi Prefecture's capital city, Nagoya, Japan.