ISA World Surfing Games 2023 El Salvador: India's historic campaign ends in repechage round

India’s campaign at the ISA World Surfing Games 2023 in El Salvador ended after Ramesh Budihal’s exit in the second repechage round. The surfing event is being held at La Bocana and the beaches of El Sunzal. 

It was the first time that an Indian surfing team participated in the annual ISA World Surfing Games, which has been held since 1964.

Three Indian surfers, Ramesh Budihal, Ajeesh Ali and Sivaraj Babu, all 22 years old, competed at the El Salvador meet in the men’s open category. 

Among the three Indians, Ramesh Budihal progressed the furthest in the competition. The six-time national champion made it to repechage 2 while the other two exited in the first round of repechage.

Ramesh Budihal finished third in his four-member round 1 heat group with 6.43 points. He then came second in his heat in the first repechage round with a score of 6.84 to extend his stay in the competition.

However, Ramesh Budihal finished fourth in his repechage round 2 heat with a score of 8.14 and bowed out.

In surfing, the points are awarded to the athletes by a panel of five judges based on the degree of difficulty, speed, power, flow and manoeuvres. The highest and lowest scores by judges are discarded and the surfer is given the average of the three remaining scores.

Sivaraj Babu and three-time national champion Ajeesh Ali finished fourth in their respective heats in the first round with scores of 3.97 and 5.13, respectively. Both, however, were eliminated in the first repechage round. 

Sivaraj Babu scored 4.76 to finish last in his three-man heat in repechage 1 while Ajeesh Ali, also competing in a three-man heat, scored 5.10 points to finish third in his group.

Earlier, Sivaraj Babu became the first Indian to ride a wave at the World Surfing Games in its 59 years of history when he competed in the first-round heats at the La Bocana beach. 

“That means that it started, that Indians have started coming and hopefully in a few years, the champions will come from India,” Sivaraj Babu told Olympics.com after finishing his heat.

“I watched the flag and them (Indian contingent) waving, supporting me. It made me super happy,” he added.

The ISA World Surfing Games 2023 is also a qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The surfing games started on May 30 and will conclude on Wednesday. Around 300 surfers from 64 countries are competing at the El Salvador meet.

The surfing events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be held in Tahiti. A total of 48 athletes - 24 women and 24 men - will compete.