Phuket Beach Festival’s International Surfing Competition Kicked Off Today at Kata Beach With Over 100 Surfers from South East Asia
August 23, 2022, Phuket, Thailand: The Phuket Beach Festival’s International Surfing Competition kicked off today for the start of what will be 5 more days of exciting surfing action in Phuket, with a total of 110 surfers in combined shortboard and longboard division coming to compete and enjoy beautiful Kata Beach. Today saw the Men’s Shortboard division complete 12 heats of Round 1 in 2-3 foot surf with onshore winds, with the event broadcast live to a worldwide audience and enjoyed by a crowd of locals and tourists on the sand.
Before starting the competition this morning, ASC Contest Director Tipi Jabrik held a surfers briefing at the Beyond Kata Hotel, where Head Judge Mark Clift explained the judging criteria and then announced that the contest would be starting at 1:00 PM. He also spoke to the international judging panel, saying “ It’s our job to be fair and do our best. Go with your best instinct, have your own opinion, and be confident in your ability.”
John Mark Tokong, who hails from Cloud 9 in the Philippines, put up a great performance today posting the highest combined heat score of 13.88 points (out of a possible 20), with a 6.25 for his first score and a 7.63 for his second.. During an interview the Siargao local said, “During my heat the waves were good, and I like surfing in beach breaks because the waves pretty much break everywhere, which makes it more challenging. I haven’t competed for a while, so I’m so stoked to win my first heat.”
“I’m so lucky to be here in Phuket and to be invited to this competition. I’m very thankful because actually it’s my first time here. I love the place, especially the locals and the food,“ he added.
Another standout today was Malaysian surfer Mohd Nazrin “Yen” Nasruddin from Cherating, Malaysia, a participant in the 2019 SouthEast Asian Games. The crowd, the judges and the commentators were impressed by his performance, as the crafty goofyfooter handily won his heat.. The familiarity of Kata beach to the Malaysian surfers may give them an edge in this competition. “We have a lot of friends here in Phuket. We always come here to Phuket to train and join surfing competitions,” said Yen.
During an interview, the coach and secretary of Persatuan Luncur Ombak Malaysia Mr. Azmi Yusoff explained that they are dedicating a lot of support and resources towards training Malaysian surfers by getting them to as many surfing competitions in Asia as possible. “Currently, we do national surfing competitions in Malaysia, as we have five states in our country that are actively involved in organizing local competitions in their particular locations every year to help promote surfing and establish rankings among Malaysian surfers,” said Mr. Yusoff.
In addition to Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, there are also competitors from Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Russia, Brazil, Myanmar, and Israel.
The event can be viewed live each day on https://www.youtube.com/c/AsianSurfCo and all the scores as well as the schedule is on Live Heats at https://www.liveheats.com/events/40439/schedule
The 2022 Phuket Beach Festival is Thailand tourism program initiative aimed at promoting the beach culture in Phuket. In addition to the surfing competition, there is also a food expo and music concerts in the following days, so stay tuned!
The contest organisers have put the Men’s Longboard competitors on standby for Round 1 tomorrow. Call time will be at 8:30 am (Phuket)
See more on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Phuketbeachfestival/
For High Resolution Photos by Mike Eijansantos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8aq3veggvipdci7/AACMGxMAUtV-1R9vFnhUIfHoa?dl=0
The Phuket Beach Festival 2022 International Surfing Competition is organized by the Thailand Surfing Federation and Southeast Asia Surfing Association, The Sport Association of Phuket and sanctioned by the Asian Surf Cooperative, with support by the Thailand Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Sports Authority of Thailand, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the National Sports Development Fund, Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization, Karon Municipality, Naval Area Command 3, Phuket Tourism Police, Phuket Provincial Public Health Office, Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Kata Karon, Hotel Association, Cheeze Locker, Haad Thip Company, Air Asia, Nature Active Camp, Beyond Resort Kata, and Pramookko Resort.
