Johnson wins Yaluwa open surfing event

BY S. M. JIFFREY Abdeen - Kandy sports correspondent

JOHNSON Rathnasingham won the over 18 year olds Sri Lankan Yaluwa Open Surfing Event organised by a group of expatriate surfing enthusiasts and sponsored by the Jersey Surfriders Club (JSC) and held at the east coast of Arugum Bay in Pottuvil.

Two brothers Darron and Leo Louche from Jersey Surf Board Association with the help of the defending British Surfing Champion Kay Holt organised this event as they wanted to help the Sri Lanka surfers, many of whom lost so much in the tsunami last December.

Leo Louche said that he almost lost his life at Hikkaduwa and owes so much to the locals who did everything within their power to save him. Leo Louche and his brother Darron raised funds in Jersey and also initiated other projects so that they could help the local surfers.

By staging competitions was one way in which they could help the local surfers and make them competitive for the champion of champions surfing event of the SriLankan Airlines which is to be held later this month.

Coming back to the competition, Johnson Rathanasingham won the gruelling final with a double tube in the dying seconds of the 20 minute final.

He just managed to push his cousin Asanka Watege Lawrence into the second place and in third place was Veejay Alahaya - an uncle of the champion. Richard Alahaya who also lost his surf board in the tsunami was presented with a new Spider board for displaying vast improvement over the three rounds.

The Sri Lankans are looking forward to the competition against the British at the end of the month, with a newly found sense of security and with all the knowledge gained from the lectures and competition experience that they needed so much to be on par with the surfers with many of them on a professional level, that many of the Sri Lankan surfers can only dream of achieving this one day.

The reigning British surfing champion Kay Holt says that their chance of achieving fame could be really closer than they expect and if they can prove that they can compete on par with, that they are part of a top surfing nation that was placed 10th in the world last year - that's the record of the Britons.

Kay Holt said that the Sri Lankan surfers are ready to take the challenge and are all elated. The judges of the competition, all from Europe, Australia and South Africa all are of the view that Susantha Suntheralingam had the potential of being the biggest threat to the top 24 British surfers who will be arriving next week. So watch out for some upsets at the champion of champions surfing championship.