CHENNAI: The Surfing Federation of India (SFI) had been knocking on the doors of the sports ministry for quite some time to get recognition that would help facilitate in identifying and nurturing talent. After years of waiting, the federation finally got the nod. The SFI became the youngest NSF to be recognized by the ministry late last month. With this development, the SFI is now eligible for getting steady funding from the government. But before that, they have to conduct elections, have affiliated state units as part of the national body, hold national camps, appoint national coaches (…) the challenges are aplenty. SFI president, Arun Vasu, has been involved with the federation from a nascent stage. From developing the sport in a fishing village Kovalam, near Chennai, to recognition, he has faced numerous challenges. In a candid interview with this daily, Arun says that he would be holding the elections right away and compliance with the Sports Code would be on top of his agenda. Two surfers were among the firsts to qualify for the Asian Games, which is scheduled to be held next year. He is also focussing on hosting the Asian Surfing Championships later this year, where he hopes more athletes will qualify. But before everything he needs to hold elections and hold national camps. Excerpts...
On getting the recognition from the sports ministry
We started in a very small way 12 years ago. It was supposed to be just a CSR project in a village called Kovalam, where we wanted to promote surfing for the fishing community. There, one led to the other and we started establishing a full-blown school there. In 2020, I was asked to take over as president of the Surfing Federation of India.
Until then from 2012 to 2020, we were involved in running all the national events. Though I was not part of the federation, two to three events a year happened on the East Coast of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Initially, it was a struggle to get sponsors. It was privately sponsored by me and a lot of friends were convinced to sponsor events. But it was very successful. In that first 10 years, we managed to run two Asian level competitions here and there was one smaller one — an Indian Ocean Challenge that we ran. Initially, we were trying to get people to surf and along the years as it grew, the talent came in. So, most of the talent came from the fishing community.
Kovalam, Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry, Kerala. These were where the talent was. So, when I took over in 2020, of the few things I wanted to do in my tenure, one was to send a team for the ISA World Games. One was to send them to the Asian Surfing Championship and then the other one was to somehow get recognition from the sports ministry.
The first of the two, though it was a lot of money spent, was the easier one. We did send the first-ever India team for the World Games in El Salvador, which was a nightmare to get to and they were really welcoming and the first time that an Indian team had come out to such a world stage. They were like big heroes and others did not know India even had surfing. The second was going for the Asian Surfing Championship in 2023, which again India did exceedingly well in the first attempt and were already ranked in the top four in Asia.
The recognition part has been a very tough journey. From Day One, I thought it would be easier. I went to Delhi and met the sports minister, met the secretaries, met the Sports Authority of India. And of course all the applications were submitted but the challenge was the 24 states or whatever the Sports Code demanded. For surfing, we can only do it on the coast and we have nine, probably nine states that we can do it. So, that was the biggest challenge.
Whenever I went and met the authorities, they would say, no, no, it's very difficult, you need to comply with 24 states because they didn't understand what surfing was. Of course, later on, the sports secretary came to Chennai and actually saw what the sport was all about and I think she realised that this can't be done only on the coast and we need waves.
I think that was where things started moving a bit. This year, after four years, we finally have managed with a lot of effort to get the recognition done. Though we have done so much the last 10 years and already put India and especially Tamil Nadu on the world map for surfing because in 2023, we ran the World Surfing Games, as you know, and we had about 16 countries that took part and it was a massive event.
We had about 90 athletes that came. So, the Tamil Nadu government has been extremely supportive in the last few years. I think they took surfing as their little baby and started backing us for events.
On Sports Code compliance with states and districts as part of the federation to hold national camps and teams selections…
If you take the example of Tamil Nadu, it has a massive coastline and I think for TN it wouldn't be too difficult. It's not going to be every district that is going to be compliant to what we are doing. So, as far as surfing goes, maybe we can manage about eight districts on the coastline. But where we can expand under the Surfing Federation of India, as we are governed by ISA, the international body, we are actually the main body for surfing and stand-up paddle. And ISA is the one who is recognised by the Olympic body. Whenever stand-up paddle comes into the Olympics, which we are hoping for in 2032, we will be the body in India managing them.
One way of taking the federation to the districts is through stand-up paddle which can be done on lakes and other water bodies. But the main focus initially will obviously be forming all the state associations on the coast first and then we work on the districts.
On grassroots programme, popularising the sport et al.
As far as active surfing states, Tamil Nadu is probably in the lead, followed by Pondicherry, Kerala, Karnataka. We run the national series in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala and Karnataka. There is surfing in Andhra and Odisha. Few surf schools that are there. But we have not been able to run an event. We need a little local support. And the state government also needs to back us. We will start all the way up from the top — West Bengal. Odisha, we know, has waves. Andhra, come down the entire East Coast and go up the West Coast. We can go for surfing, we can go up to Goa. Goa does not have the best waves, but we can do longboard. That's also in the Olympics.
We already have grassroots engaging surf schools. We have about 45 surf schools already registered as part of SFI on the Western East Coast. So, now I think with the recognition, there are more schools that are going to be wanting to be part of it because at least they see some light at the end of the day and if they want to become athletes.
For now, these surf schools are the ones that have been engaging with SFI where they send their athletes and then we run the national series. We just need to grow on that model. I think the best way for awareness of any sport is to have events.
We do have great waves and we have great talent. They just need to be nurtured, trained and all that. Until now, the training, coaching have been done on a private basis. But now, it opens up a completely new thing. Now, we can start sending these athletes all over the world to train. And in Asia we have many places from Bali to Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives. Australia would be fantastic if we could go there. Because a lot of the WSL, which is the World Surfing League events, happen in this entire belt and Australia is a key member there.
That's where they need the exposure because they need to have face conditions from one-foot to 20-feet waves. And some waves are more powerful, some are messy, some have more barrels.
On starting national camps, maintaining federation website
As far as the website, we have already been working on that since last year. We have launched a new website but obviously, now to follow the Sports Code and compliance, we have already been told that we need to change a few things while we are on the job.
We also need an international coach because we have been sending them (surfers) outside there but we also need the guy to come here. We need to officially announce the national coach under SFI and then the coaching camps have to happen.
I think straight away we can look at 10-12 kids, who can be part of that national coaching camp and then, as we get closer to the events, we can go down to the top 4, top 5, whatever is eligible for entry in those events.
When are you going to conduct your elections?
That will happen right now, right away as we speak. So, and as we are being recognised now, I think the term starts from now. As we form all the states, I mean whatever is there now will be part of the voting but as we form new states, they will all have the voting rights. So, we are hoping to finish this process in the first year itself so that we have a maximum number of states involved and we are a very open and visible body. We want to be transparent.