TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Six Indonesian surfing athletes are participating in the International Surfing Association (ISA) World Surfing Games (WSG) 2023, one of the qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The surfers are Rio Waida, Hairil Anwar, I Ketut Agus, Lidia Kato, Taina Angel, and Kailani Johnson. The tournament is taking place in El Salvador from May 31 to June 7, 2023.

Head coach of the Indonesian surfing national team, Arya Subyakto, told ANTARA on Wednesday that only the best male and female athletes participating in the WSG from each continent — Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania — will qualify for the Olympics.

Thus, Indonesian athletes will need to rank higher compared to participants from other Asian countries, namely Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Maldives, Iran, China, and Afghanistan, he said.

"(The athletes from) Japan and the Philippines are tough opponents,” he added.

However, although athletes will be selected for the Olympics from the best surfers from each continent, the WSG will use a heat scheme to allow all athletes to compete with each other regardless of their continent of origin.

“Thus, to have the highest ranks (among Asian athletes), Indonesian surfers still have to compete against other participants from all over the world since the early rounds,” the coach stated.

According to the official website of ISA WSG 2023, a total of 164 male surfers from 60 countries will participate in 48 heats of 3–4 participants in Round 1 of the tournament.

In addition, 130 female athletes from 52 countries will compete in 36 heats of 3–4 surfers in Round 1 of the WSG.

"We certainly have a chance (to qualify)," Subyakto remarked.

He said he hoped the weather and wave conditions, such as wind speed and wave height, would support Indonesian athletes to make the best achievements at the competition.

In the previous edition of the WSG, which took place on Huntington Beach, California, the United States, in September 2022, Indonesian surfer Waida bagged a silver medal.

The 2023 ISA World Surfing Games were inaugurated by the president of the ISA, Fernando Aguerre, in Surf City, El Salvador, on Tuesday (May 30, 2023).

ANTARA

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