New Delhi, Aug 9 (H.S.): Indian surfers have made history at the Asian Surfing Championship, with Ramesh Budhihal and Kishore Kumar becoming the first-ever Indians to qualify for the Open Men’s Category semifinal.

In the first heat of the day, Budhihal delivered an outstanding performance, scoring 14.84 points to surpass the Philippines’ Neil Sanchez (12.80). “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. I practiced on some waves this morning and planned to do the same in the heat. It’s a proud moment for us,” Budhihal said. He also expressed regret over missing last year’s championship in the Maldives but vowed to make the most of this opportunity.

In the final heat of the day, Kishore Kumar showed composure and scored 10.50 points, finishing second behind the Philippines’ Eduardo Alsiso (12.03). Last year, Kishore represented India in the Under-18 category and was the first Indian to reach its semifinals.

Only the top two from each heat advanced to the semifinals, making India’s double entry historic. In Heat-3, Shrikant D narrowly missed qualifying, finishing third with 10.90 points.

Along with Budhihal and Kumar, the other Open Men’s semifinalists include Sanchez, Mega Artana (Indonesia), Shidong Wu (China), Pajar Ariana (Indonesia), Kanoa Hijae (South Korea), and Alsiso.

In the Under-18 Girls category, Adya Singh and Dhamyanti Sriram advanced to Round 3 after strong performances in the repechage round, while Sanvi Hegde was eliminated.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar