Mangaluru: Sasihitlu beach, the picturesque estuary witnessed inaugural of three-day open surfing championship, first to be organised in Karnataka.
Held with the sole intention to promote beach tourism, this adventure sport is organised by the Department of Tourism for the first time in Karnataka in collaboration with Mantra Surf Club and Kanara Surfing and Water Sports Promotion Council.
Inaugurating the event on Friday, May 27, Minister for Tourism R V Deshpande said that with funds from the state Government as many as 30 beaches in the state are going to be developed.
“Beach tourism and health tourism have huge potential to create job and hence these two sectors must be promoted on a large scale and regularly. For this we need to develop infrastructure,” he said adding that under Swadesh Darshan scheme of the union government, the state has received Rs. 92 crores using which beaches will be developed.
Stressing on regulating and relaxing the CRZ regulations, Deshpande opined that if the state is serious about developing the beaches then relaxation of CRZ rules is the need of the hour.
“The regulations will have to be made upto 100 metre as against the present 500 metre and this should be uniform for the entire coast in India. An initial proposal was made and Rs.92 cr was sanctioned for development of beaches. Infrastructure, security, safety of beaches are to be taken care,” he said adding that development of Suratkhal, Malpe, Maravanthe, Murudeshwar, Mavinkurve, Trasi Kudle, Om and Tagore beaches will be taken up on priority basis.
He said introducing water sports and adventure sports can generate revenue for the local communities and other stake holders.
Though the weather forecast for the event was promising with five feet to eight feet waves hitting the coast, which will be a challenge for surfers, it started drizzling and the remained gloomy for an hour, before start.
First woman surfer
The first woman surfer, Ishita Malaviya from Karnataka was also participating. She is also founder of The Shaka Surf Club along with Tushar Pathiayn in Kodi Bengre, on the west coast of Karnataka. Top seeded girls in the country, Aneesha Nayak and Sinchana Gowda from Mangaluru, will be the favourites in women category.Deekshith Suvarna and Kiran Kumar from Mulki are top seeded from Karnataka.
The three-day tournament being hosted on the Sasihithlu Beach in Mangalore, Karnataka will feature the cream of Indian as well as International Surfers with prize money of Rs. 6 lakh on offing, and is expected to attract over 80 surfers. The categories for the event are U16, junior boys (17 to 22 year), senior men (22 to 28-year), masters men (28 years and above).
Women’s category at the event is also part of the schedule. The event will be officiated by Steve Robertson, General Manager for World Surf League as well as Tim Hain, General Manager of the Asian Surfing Championships.
