The Indian surfing quartet of Kamali P, Ajeesh Ali, Srikanth D, and Sanjay Selvamani won silver in the team event at the 2024 Asian Surfing Championships in the Maldives on Sunday.
The team of four surfers beat Chinese Taipei and China in the Maruhaba Cup, the team category at the Championships, with a team score of 24.13. Japan secured the gold medal with an impressive score of 58.40 while Chinese Taipei rounded off the podium with a score of 23.93.
India had secured qualification to the final after topping their heat semi-final with a score of 32.16 with Chinese Taipei and South Korea finishing second and third respectively.
Earlier in the tournament, the Indian men’s and women’s teams both secured quotas for the 2026 Asian Games to be hosted in Aichi-Nagoya in Japan.
The quotas were awarded based on the ranking points earned by the surfers at the Asian Championships, which served as a qualifying event for the Asian Games. Eight Indian surfers competed across four categories.
Kishore Kumar’s performance in the Under-18 boys’ category saw him reach the semi-finals and finish in third place in his respective heat semi-final. The points racked up by Kumar across the first and third round along with the semi-final helped India secure the quota.
