Tahara: India concluded their maiden surfing campaign at the Asian Games 2026 without a medal on Tuesday, with Kishore Kumar Anbarasu being the last Indian to be knocked out after he exited in the men’s shortboard quarter-finals.
Surfing made its Asian Games debut at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 and India fielded a four-member contingent across the men’s and women’s shortboard competitions at the Pacific Long Beach in Tahara.
18-year-old Indian surfer Kishore’s run ended with an 8.53-5.37 defeat to the Philippines’ Toby Espejon in the last eight. Toby scored 5.50 and 3.03 in his two waves, while Kishore could only manage 3.00 and 2.37.
In surfing, a competitor’s score is the combined total of their two highest-scoring waves, with each wave judged out of 10.00, giving a maximum combined score of 20.00.
Kishore had beaten China’s Ma Wensong 9.76-8.80 in the third round to book his quarter-final berth. He had also topped his opening-round heat with 9.33 points.
India’s other men’s shortboard entrant, Sivaraj Babu, advanced after defeating the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Davoud Khadir 8.96-3.60 in the second round.
Sivaraj’s campaign ended in the third round, where he lost 11.50-7.83 to the Philippines’ Jayuard Alciso.
In the women’s shortboard, Kamali Prakash and Sugar Shanti Gayen were also ousted in the third round.
Kamali lost 1.64-5.93 to Indonesia’s Jasmine Michelle Studer, while Sugar went down 14.60-5.17 to Japan’s Minami Nonaka in round three.
India earned Asian Games quota places in both the men’s and women’s categories through the Asian Surfing Championships 2024 in the Maldives, where they also won their first-ever team silver at the continental championships.
Surfing made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 and returned at Paris 2024. The sport will also feature at the LA 2028 Olympics, with men’s and women’s shortboard events on the programme at Trestles State Beach.
India are yet to be represented in surfing at the Olympics.
(IANS)
