Puttur girls shine at international surfing event

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Sep 27, 2014:  Two girls from Puttur—Sinchana Gowda and Anisha Nayak have created  history winning second and third place respectively in Covelong point classic, an international surfing championship held at Chennai. The event  was organised by the Surfing Federation of India (SFI) under the banner of International Surfing Association (ISA).

 

 

Sinchana has received Rs 10,000 and Anisha Rs 5,000. In the final, the Puttur girls were pitted against Suhasini and Ishita Malavya, India’s first female surfer. Though the local talent fell short of becoming champions, they have put up a brave fight, thus stealing the hearts at the international championship finals.

Sinchana Gowda and Anisha Nayak were magnetised  into surfing just a year ago by their swimming coach Partha Varanashi.  Sinchana and Anisha along with few other children from Puttur started training under a National medallist surfer, Dhruva Das of Mantra Surf club at Balavana Swimming pool, Puttur. On weekdays, the young talents used to practice at the pool. They learnt to paddle, balance on skate board, duck dive and work on their strength and conditioning. On weekends, they proceeded to the beach at Mulki and Bekal for training. There they would learn to face the big waves with surf boards.

The hard work of these young surfers guided by their coach and supported by their parents paid off when both of them stood on the victory stand at the Covelong point classic surf Championship. Meenakshi Gowda is the mother of Sinchana and Vibha Nayak, mother of Anisha. Hopefully water sports will gain a new place in the region.