Yusuf Kayan advances to third round after dominating Junior heat

Maldives' own Yusuf Kayan Hamdan Zaki (Kai Zaki) has advanced to the third round of the Asian Surfing Championship after winning Heat 2 of the Men's Junior Category.

Sadly, Men's Junior Category contestant Kayan Abdulla Areef (Kaiputty) and Women's Open Category contestants Fathimath Rishtha Shuja, Mariyam Rahil Naseem (Aaya) and Shaziya Saeed (Saazu) see an end to their run at the ASC.

Yasin Ahmed Nasheed, who is competing in the Men's Junior Category in the ASC, has already advanced to the third round after placing second in Heat 5. To advance in the Junior Category, contestants need to place first or second in the heat events to progress to the third round, with surfers that place third securing their place in the second round.

Yusuf Kayan and Kayan Areef will have to compete in round 2 to earn their spot in round 3, as they both had placed third in their respective heats in round 1.

Yusuf Kayan placed first in Heat 1 of the second round, scoring 6.17. India's Naveen Kumar scored 4 points, earning him second place. Singapore's Muhammad Hayyan earned third place with a score of 1.50.

Maldives' Kayan Areef scored 6.90 in Heat 2 of the second round, landing him in third place. Second place was claimed by Thailand's Gwynt Jandke with a score of 7.30. First place was claimed by Lebanon's Ryan Hakawati with a score of 7.83.

Maldives' female contestants that were competing in the Women's Open Category saw them end their run, as they had placed third or fourth in their respective heats in the second round.

Saazu scored 1.50 in Heat 5, with Rishtha scoring 0.77 in Heat 5 as well. Second place was claimed by Bangladesh's Fatema Akter with a score of 3.46, with first place being claimed by Chinese Taipei's Yun-Jung Chung scoring 8.67.

Aaya competed in Heat 2 and placed third with a score of 0.97. Second place was claimed by Malaysia's Nurain Isa with a score of 1.50, with first place being claimed by Chinese Taipei's Wan-Yu Chen scoring 10.17.

Maldives' male contestants have all advanced to the third round of the Men's Open Category. Ismail Rasheed (Smiley) placed first in Heat 2 of round two and Hood Ahmed placed first as well in Heat 4, securing their place in round three. Ahmed Agil secured first place in Heat 11 of round 1, propelling him into round three.

This is the first time a junior set of participants and a female set of participants, of which this is the first time a female team of more than one, is set to compete in a competition abroad.

The official sponsor for the Maldives national surfing team is BML Islamic, with the bank offering their support to the Maldives Surfing Association since 2022. This sponsorship has resulted in the bank extending a significant amount of help to the national surfing team. BML Islamic is also offering their services to MSA's National Junior Surfing Championship, a competition that aims to further nurture younger surfing talents in the country.