Spanish duo of Fernando Perez & Esperanza Barreras crowned champions in the Men’s & Women’s Open Sprint Races
The Pujar brothers walk away with all the three spots in the Junior Sprint Race
Mangalore: The final day of India’s first-ever International Stand-Up Paddling event, the India Paddle Festival came to a fitting closure with Fernando Perez from Spain walking away as the champion in the Men’s Open Sprint Race (200 M) category with a timing of 2 minutes 37 seconds today. Esperanza Barreras from Spain was crowned champion in the Women’s Open Sprint Race (200 M) with a timings of 2 minutes 55 seconds. Indian juniors and local lads swept away with the top honors in the Junior Sprint (200 M) category with Raju Pujar being crowned champion closely followed by Akash Pujar and Praveen in the second and third positions respectively.
The three day SUP event is the country’s first-ever International SUP championship that concluded today at the Sasihithlu beach, Mangalore. The event is being presented by Karnataka Government and organized by Surfing Swami Foundation. The India Paddle Festival is sanctioned by the Association of PaddleSurf Professionals World Tour (APP).
In the Men’s category, Christian Andersen finished second with a timing of 2 minutes 53 seconds, while Hungary’s Daniel Hasyulo finished third with a timing of 2 minutes and 54 seconds. The Women’s category saw challenging conditions with rough waves to be braved through. Bianca Toncelli of Italy finished second with a timing of 3 minutes 38 seconds while Thailand’s Irin N finished third with a timing of 3 minutes 54 seconds.
Men’s Open Sprint Race champion, Fernando Perez, said, “It feels wonderful to win here today. This is my first trip to India and I’m pleasantly surprise by such favorable and challenging conditions at the same time. Mangalore is definitely somewhere I want to return in the feature and I’m confident with such wonderful infrastructure and natural mix of the ocean and the river, it’s not long before we start seeing Indian athletes making waves on international waters.”
Women’s Open Sprint Race champion, Esperanza Barreras, said, “The conditions were challenging but I am very happy to win in India, a country that I visit for the first time. The weather here is beautiful and I loved my time over here.
The Juniors Sprint Category saw a clean sweep by local lads, the Pujar brothers. While Raju Pujar finished as a champion with a timing of 4 minutes 35 seconds, his cousin Akash Pujar finished second with a timing of 5 minutes 35 seconds. Akash’s brother, Praveen Pujar finished third with a timing of 5 minutes 39 seconds. All the three boys have been receiving training under the Surfing Swami Foundation for over a year now.
Junior’s Sprint Race champion, Raju Pujar, said, “It was an unexpected result but I am very happy with the results. I have been training under the Surfing Swami Foundation with Samanth sir. And I am happy that my hard work has started yielding results.”
The day began with the community race where amateurs’ recreational stand-up paddlers came together for a unique 3 KM race. This community race was also the first-ever such an initiative whether in an international or a national competition in India. The race saw participation from over 15 recreational Stand-up paddlers and the ones from Tamil Nadu swept away with the top three positions. The first position was secured by Selvara San while Sujan J and Gokul Raj secured the second and the third positions respectively.
The Association of PaddleSurf Professionals World Tour (APP) announced its entry in India with the country’s first-ever International Stand-Up Paddling championship last month. The India Paddle Festival is the first step in an exciting new development journey for the organization as a significant growth of the sport in the region over the coming years. Presented by Karnataka Tourism, organized by the Surfing Swami Foundation, the India Paddle Festival will welcome a selection of top athletes from the APP World Tour, as well as other aspiring professionals from the region.
