Sinchana Gowda and AnishaNayak have created history by winning 2nd and 3rd place respectively in Covelong point classic, An international surfing championship held at Chennai. This was organised by surfing federation of India (SFI) under the licence from International Surfing Association (ISA).
Sinchana Gowda and AnishaNayak hail from Puttur, A small town in Karnataka. They were pulled in to surfing one year ago by their swimming coach Mr. Partha Varanashi who was in Australia for six year were he learnt to surf. Sinchana and Anisha along with few other children from Puttur started training under a national medallist surfer Dhruva Das of Mantra Surf club at Balavana Swimming pool, Puttur. On weekdays these future stars train at the pool. They would learn to paddle, Balance on skate board, duck dive and work on their strength and conditioning. On weekends they were taken to the beach at Mulki and Bekal for training. There they would learn to face the big waves and tackle with their board to stand up and surf.
The hard work by these young surfer, their coach and dedication by their parents paid off when both of them sized the podium place at the Covelong point classic surf Championship. In round one (heats) both Sinchana and Anisha were up against two surfers from Australia and Russia. However both our girls fought hard and got through to the finals. Anisha who was down at bottom till last 5 minutes to go found something! She says it was her instinct who made her catch that winner! She paddled hard, caught that wave, stood up and pumped which was made the international judges give her the best score of that round. Sinchana did quite well to finish second in the heat behind Anisha.
Finals was on the 14th were in the girls from Puttur were up against IshitaMalavya who is India s first female surfer and Suhasini Damian of Auroville. The Bay of Bengal had no mercy on women finalists! Powerful over head swells with a strong current stared to pick up as the horn went off for the 20min finals. All the four girls started to go after the big wave to impress the judges.. However the waves were too big and too hollow for the women..one after the other started getting wiped out (like clothes inside the washing machine) Meanwhile on the 7th minute the 12 year old Sinchana found something.. She managed to catch something the rest couldn’t.. She spotted a big swell outside..paddled hard at it and she catches it!! As the speed picked up she pulls her shoulders up and brings her right foot up the board to stand up and fearlessly rides that wave to score the first points of the session!
Right after that around 10min mark Anisha pulls a classic!! She spots a wave on the right side.. She positions herself perfectly..paddles and catches it.. text book style
Surfers get to catch as many as 10 waves in the 20min session. All the 10 waves will be scored by the judges however only top 2 scores are added up to decide the results
Soon after Sinchana, Anisha catch many waves..all the hard work they did in the pool is paying off. They can paddle faster and harder, They can hold their breath for over a minute with ease and their shoulders are strong enuf to tackle big waves
Suhasini from Auroville took the spot light with her smart move. Last 5 min to go she started to surf on the left where the wave formation was better to surf. She rode 2 waves beautifully to score high points.. Deservingly she won the championship 15000 cash price + a NSP surf board worth 35000
Sinchana won 2nd place and 10000 cash price, Anisha won 3rd and 5000 cash price..Meenakshi Gowda and VibhaNayakwho are the mothers of the girls were in tears out of joy!
This is only the beginning. I hope more and more people will join this exciting sports for fitness fun and for competitive sport in future. Classes at Balavana Swimming pool, Puttur will continue in the hope to win more international meets.
