Mangaluru, May 28: Surfing as a sport is catching up in India which now has a good number of confident surfers, World Surf League Australia General Manager Stephen Robertson said.

Talking to reporters here, Robertson, who was here in connection with the Indian Open of Surfing event that began yesterday, said surfing was expanding in a big way in Asia and he was looking for new venues.
Namma Kudla and Sasihitlu, venues of the maiden India Open of Surfing, were suitable for such events, he said. Conditions on the beach and the local surfing talent, make Sasihitlu a potential venue for hosting international events.
He appreciated the infrastructure put in place by Mantra Surf club in association with Kanara Surfing and Water Sports Commission who organised the event.
It has also got recognition from International Surfing Association and Surfing Federation of India as part of Karnataka surfing festival. Surfing was a mature sport and a lifestyle in Australia, he said adding up to 200 surfers out at the beach as early as 5 am on a normal day was a common sight.
The estimated worldwide community of surfers is around 30 million and around two million were in Australia, he said.
He expressed the view that countries like India and the Philippines would soon spread the popularity of the sport. More than 80 surfers from India and other parts of the world are participating in the three-day event here, the organisers said.

The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
wow really great to watch this,
really its just awesome to c surfing in our home country
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