The first-ever National Junior Surfing Championship, organized by Maldives Surfing Association (MSA), concludes successfully.
The junior surfing championship was held at “Varunulaa Raalhugandu” at the east-end of Male’ City – a hotspot for surfers. The championship ran under three distinct age categories. Yousuf Kayan took home the win from Under-14 category, Yasin Ahmed Nashid took the champion title from Under-16 category while Ahmed Ameer was crowned the top spot holder from Under-18 category.
Kayan, who nabbed first spot from Under-14 had competed in two age categories, with his eventual advancement to the finals in both. Apart from Under-14, he competed in the Under-16 heat as well. He took the win by beating Kayan Abdulla Areef at the Under-14’s final heat. He finished the heat, scoring a 7.33 and 7.67, securing 15 points while his competitor Kayan Areef managed 8.26 points.
Yasin who took the win in Under-16, had competed in the Under-14 heats as well. He was crowned third spot in the Under-14 category, managing 13.27 points against competitor Mohamed Inaan, who had scored 9.74.
Yaeen failed to advance into the Under-14’s final heat for falling 0.17 points behind the category’s winner Kayan. He secured 11.77 points in the semi-final heat, while Inaan beat Kayan Areef with a 0.17 point-difference.
The Under-16 winner turned the tables during the heat by beating Yousuf Kayan with a 1.30 point-difference. Yasin secured a total of 11.67 points in the Under-16 final heat, managing to grab 6.00 and 5.67 points from two of the waves surfed. Kayan managed to secure 10.37 points in the heat.
Moreover, Yasin had beaten the Junior Champion in the Dhivehi Surf League, Shanif Shafeeq in the Under-16 semi-finals heat. Shanif is an experienced surfer, who took two distinct wins from two of the Dhivehi Surf League events, and securing second in the league’s open category. He is also ranked 10th in the Senior National Ranking.
Sayyid Salahuddin nabbed third spot from Under-16 by managing a score of 14.33 while Shanif had secured 12.83. Both surfers secured 8.00 points for their best waves in the heat, while Sayyid emerged victorious from the fifth wave’s major point difference.
Ahmed Ameer, who took win from Under-18 has won the previous Junior Championship edition as well. This marks the last time he will be competing in the junior categories. He grabbed the win by beating Shanif Shafeeq in the final heat. Ameer scored 10.70 points in the final heat by securing 5.50 and 5.20 points.
Shafeeq managed to score 9.57, securing 5.00 and 4.57 points for his best waves.
Mohamed Zayaan grabbed third spot in the heat, with a total score of 8.50. Inaan managed a score of 7.17 in the same heat. Zayaan secured 4.67 and 3.83 points for his best waves while Inaan secured 4.00 and 3.17 points.
With his performances, Inaan secured fourth spot from Under-14 and Under-18 categories.
A total of 41 junior surfers competed at the first-ever National Junior Championship, with 10 surfers competing in the Under-14, 15 competed in the Under-16 while a total of 16 surfers battled for the title in the Under-18 category.
