India Assembles First Ever National Surf Team

The Surfing Federation of India (SFI) has announced the first-ever Indian Surf Team that will represent the country at the ISA World Surfing Games 2023 held in El Salvador from May 30 to June 7, 2023. 

Ajeesh Ali, Sanjay Selvamani and Sivaraj Babu from Tamil Nadu and Ramesh Budihal from Karnataka will be repping the orange, gold and green flag at the ISA Worlds, which functions as an Olympic qualification opportunity for Paris 2024 (held at Teahupo’o) i.e. The top four ranked surfers from each continent for each gender will qualify for Paris. 

According to Khel Now:

The team is currently in Sri Lanka attending a 14-day training camp with Head Coach Mr. Patrick Renaud, a former South African professional surfer who has previously managed the English Surf team to 4th place in European Surfing Championships. 

The team will be under his guidance for the next 5 months in the run-up to the World Games, attending further training camps and possibly competing in international competitions in Maldives and Sri Lanka to increase exposure.