Mamallapuram (Tamil Nadu), Aug 1 (PTI) Top women surfers- P Kamali of Tamil Nadu and Sugar Shanti Banarse of Goa will be clashing for the title in the Open Women’s category of the Mahabs Point Break Challenge National Surf Series here.

Also, Shrishti Selvam and Sandhya Arun will be among the others competing. Kamali will also look to complete the double as she is the favourite in the Groms Under-16 Girls category finals, slated for Friday.

On the competition’s opening day, Kamali and Banarse qualified for the finals, finely winning their respective semi-finals, securing a score of 13.17 and 8.16, respectively.

Shrishti and Sandhya qualified for the finals, finishing second in the first and second semi-finals respectively.

Meanwhile, Kamali will compete alongside Dhayanthi Sriram, Mahati Srinivasabharathi and Saanvi Hegde in the Groms U-16 Girls category.

Up-and-coming surfers Tayin Arun and Kishore Kumar continued to impress with their performances at the national level, having qualified for the next rounds of both the Men’s Open category and the Groms U-16 Boys category.

Kishore won Heat 4 of Round 2, thus entering the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Arun came second in Heat 5, reaching the quarter-finals, and both surfers easily won their quarter-final heats to cement their place in the semi-finals of the Groms U-16 category.

Defending champion from the last two editions, Ramesh Budihal and the top-ranked surfers Ajeesh Ali, Srikanth D, Harish M, M. Manikandan, Surya P and Sivaraj Babu have also sealed their quarter-final place with convincing wins in their respective Round 2 heats, scheduled for Friday.

In the Groms U-16 Boys semi-finals, Arun will be joined by Yogesh A, S Lokesh and Som Sethi, whereas in the second semi-finals, Kishore Kumar will be up against P Harish, Pradeep Pujar and Prahlad Sriram for a place in the finals.

Head Judge Rory Symes from Australia praised the women surfers for their distinctive display of skills and boldness throughout the event.

Source: PTI News