Learning to ride the wave - Asian Games waits to test India’s surfing journey

Surfing makes its debut at the Asian Games on September 25 and India is all set to ride the waves in Japan, but one cannot forget the four days, when the Asiad host dominated the World Surf League Shore Temple Classic QS 2000 as it returned to Mahabalipuram for the first time in three years. The Mahabalipuram Beach, with the Shore Temple overlooking the waves, also hosted the country’s first-ever Pro Junior event on the same days.

On August 15, a Saturday and the final day of the WSL, the beach drew an impressive crowd compared to the previous days of the competition. The cloudy day brought a welcome break from Mahabalipuram’s usually dry and humid heat. Families gathered along the shore, while people went for runs and fishermen returned from their morning expedition. Everyone, from children to joggers and fishermen, stopped and stared as the pro surfers cut through the waves. They carved the water with incredible control and precision.

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However, the excitement of the competition could not mask the disappointment of the Indian contingent. The Indian team did not make it to the quarterfinals, despite featuring Kamali Moorthy and Kishore Kumar, members of the 2026 Asian Games squad. Kishore, the only Indian to reach a quarterfinal, competed in the Pro Junior Men’s event but was unable to progress further.

The last day of the Shore Temple Classic set up all-Japanese finals in the Men’s Qualifying Series and both Pro Junior categories. The exception was the Women’s Qualifying Series, where Thailand’s Isabel Higgs was the only surfer of a different nationality still in contention.

Japan’s dominance was already evident by the quarterfinals and continued until the final horn. It swept all four titles, with Ikko Watanabe claiming victory and posting the competition’s highest final score, 17.10.

In the Women’s Qualifying Series, Mirai Ikeda defeated Isabel Higgs by 1.60 points. In the Pro Junior categories, Yuma Nagasawa won the men’s event, while Hinata Shimizu took first place in the women’s.

“The Japanese’s exposure is huge. The kids who came here, they do at least 15 such events every year, while our kids did three or four,” said Arun Vasu, president of the Surfing Federation of India and Asian Surfing Federation.

International recognition as a sport

Surfing has not always been recognised as a sport. It made its Olympic debut only at Tokyo 2020 and is set to make its Asian Games debut at the Aichi–Nagoya Games.

In India, it was long viewed more as a coastal pastime than a competitive sport. Arun Vasu, along with Murthy Megavan and Yotam Agam, founded the Covelong Classic Surf, Music, and Fitness Festival in 2013, with the hope of introducing surfing as a leisure activity for Indians.

But the annual festival became something larger than a surfing event, inviting tourists, locals and surfing enthusiasts to Covelong Point. Kumaravel N., a start-up advisor and regular at the Covelong Festival, remembers its early editions.

“When I attended the first festival, the vibe was different. Different bands and art forms were included. Every year, a new artist came.”

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There were stalls, he added, and people would open up their homes to tourists, helping the local ecosystem in the small fishing village along the East Coast Road.

Over the years, the festival took on a different format, leaning more into competitive surfing and away from the music and art that had defined its early editions.

“Surfing in isolation does not have the same effect the festival had on me,” said Kumaravel.

The festival had helped build a community around surfing before the sport began to build a competitive pathway.

That early groundwork has since begun to translate into a more serious competitive ecosystem.

“If you want to be a Pro Surfer, it is going to cost you Rs. 20 to 25 lakhs a year, including the custom surf boards, travel, and the coaching,” said Vasu.

He highlighted that the Tamil Nadu government has supported surfing events over the last four years, giving Indian surfers more of the international exposure they need to close the gap.

Kamali believes that the international exposure will only push Indian surfers to bigger stages.

“We are here, competing against the inspirations we have seen in WSLs, and now we are competing against them in our home,” she told Sportstar after the Shore Temple Classic.

For Kamali, that is the value of bringing events such as the Shore Temple Classic to India: the distance between watching the world’s best and competing against them is getting shorter.

India may still be some distance from matching the best surfing nations, but the sport has created room for a new generation of Indian surfers to grow. The Asian Games will offer the next test, and another chance to see how far the country has travelled.