Photo: Surfing Federation of India
Competitive surfing is pushing into new frontiers. The World Surf League (WSL) recently announced that India will host its first-ever WSL Qualifying Series (QS) 3000 event from August 14-20.
The International Surf Open-Tamilnadu will award USD $45,000 in prize money, taking place at Mahabalipuram on India’s east coast. The wave, also known as ‘Mahabs,’ is a right-hand point break that bends around a 1,000-year-old temple. It’s largely considered to be the best spot in the country during the summer swell season.
“We chose Mahabs because it’s a consistent wave,” the President of the Surfing Federation of India (SFI), Arun Vasu, told The Inertia. “It’s also a historic town with the Shore Temple, so it’s really an epic setting.”
The first QS event in India is part of a years-long push by SFI to bring international surfing competitions to the country.
“A few states (had tried to host events before), but it didn’t go through because it is expensive,” said Vasu. “It is a big investment for a new sport that is just growing in India.”
The surfing federation has grown the sport’s popularity in the country through annual national championships and surf festivals. They’ve also committed to sending their first national surfing team to compete in this years’ ISA World Surfing Games, a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Surfing is gaining traction in India and by funding this event, it’s evident that the government has taken notice. According to Vasu, the majority of the event’s funding has been committed by a government entity, the Sports Development Authority of the state of Tamil Nadu.
India is also breaking ground by jumping straight to a 3,000 level QS.
“There was a lot of debate and we actually originally pitched a QS 5,000 for India,” said Vasu. “The WSL told us that they usually enter a new country with a 1,000, but that was too small. We’ve been through a lot of trouble to convince the Tamil Nadu Sports Minister to pitch this, so we need to actually show something.”
Ultimately, SFI settled on the 3,000 which will have the added benefit of ten wildcard slots for the locals, more than a 5,000 could allot. The wildcard spots available for Indians will be filled prior to the QS via a three-stop circuit of east coast surf events between Covelong, Mahabs, and Pondicherry.
While hosting the WSL event is a big step for the growth of Indian surfing, SFI has a bigger vision that includes yearly events and world championships.
“We would definitely like to hold one WSL event per year and we want to bring the ISA SUP World Championships here as well,” explained Vasu. “(India) is one of the future markets of surfing so it could really grow into something massive.”
As far as how Vasu will measure the success of India’s first WSL event, he looks around the world, and internally, at how surf tourism has transformed local economies.
“(Success would be) getting a high number of surfers,” said Vasu. “We want to portray the place as a tourism destination. We’ve seen how in many countries this has been a game-changer. The WSL has said that we should expect about 100 surfers.”
“If you look at what we started doing here in Covelong (a small village near Chennai), it was really a small fishing village,” added Vasu. “Now it’s a surf Mecca with 10 surf schools and growing.”
India may not be the first country that comes to mind when you think of surfing in the Indian Ocean, but it’s hard to ignore all the pieces that are falling into place. With a population well over a billion, institutional support from the government, a national team competing for Olympic slots, and ample coastline, Vasu may be onto something when he says the future of the sport in the country is massive.
