18 December 2011 – Singapore: The inaugural Asian Surfing
Championships Awards were held on Saturday evening December 17th at the
Wave House on Sentosa Island in Singapore to honor the Asian region’s
first professional surfing champions, Singapore’s surfing champions, and
to celebrate the media partnership of the ASC with the Outdoor Channel
for 2012. The event was attended by over 100 members of the Asian
surfing community and various media.
It was a
historical landmark in the progression of Asian surfing, as it was the
first time that Asian surfing champions have been crowned as a result of
competing in a multi-country and multi-event professional surfing
competition circuit. The 2011 Asian Surfing Championship circuit saw a
total of 9 events held in four countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan,
and Thailand.
22-year-old Made Raditya Rondi from
Bali Indonesia took top honors as the champion in the Open Division,
having won the Quiksilver Thailand Surf Competition in Phuket last
September, the Rip Curl Surf & Music Festival in Bali in October,
and just last week the Billabong Cherating Pro in Malaysia. He is also
the runner up on the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championship tour for
2011.
The significance of what he had achieved was
evident in his acceptance speech, as he said, “Thank you very much for
this award, as this is one of the biggest honors of my life so far, and
I’ll always remember this. I want to say thanks to my sponsor Billabong
and the ISC and ASC crews for making this all happen, and I hope that
next year surfing can grow in Asia so we can make more contests. Should
be lots of fun…thank you!”
Unfortunately 2011 ASC
Longboard Champion Arip Nur Hidayat from West Java Indonesia was not
present to receive his award, as he was attending his brother’s wedding,
but he was acknowledged in absentia with a around of applause. Hidayat
is also the 2011 Indonesian Longboard Champion.
In
the Women’s Division it was Yasnyiar “Bonne” Gea from Sumatra Indonesia
who received the ASC Women’s Champion award, having competed in all six
women’s events and having won three of them. She thanked her sponsor
Billabong, her family, the Asian surfing community and the ASC for their
support in making it possible for her to be able to surf and to win
this award. Gea is also 4-time and current Indonesian Women’s Champion.
Decha
Sithidej is now Thailand’s first surfing champion, having won the
Master’s Division (over 35 years of age) of the Asian Surfing
Championships. It has only been in the last several years that Thailand
has been recognized as having a surfing community, and it has grown
rapidly as a result. In his acceptance speech, Sithidej was liberal in
his praise of the ASC for their support of surfing in Thailand, saying
“Thanks to Tipi Jabrik and Tim Hain at the ASC for helping and
supporting us in Thailand, without them this wouldn’t be possible. Also
big thanks to the crew at Quiksilver Thailand and to Joob at Surfing
Thailand for their dedication and support. This award is only possible
because of all of you, and I’m so proud to represent Thailand as the
first surfing champion.”
After the ASC champions
had been called up together on the stage for a group photo, ASC Media
Director Tim Hain took the microphone and called on Mr. Kevin Sim from
Multichannel Asia to receive a placard in appreciation of the ASC and
Outdoor Channel agreement for 2012. By mid 2012, the Outdoor Channel
will be broadcasting a series of programs that revolve around the ASC
and its events, in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines,
Thailand, and other Asian countries.
“On behalf
of Outdoor Channel, I would like to say that we’re very happy to be a
partner with the first even Asian Surfing Championships, for next year
and in the years to come” said Sim. “We believe it’s the perfect
platform from which to inform and entertain both the mainstream and
sports enthusiasts in the Asian region, bringing the exciting sport of
surfing into the living rooms of millions of people.”
After
Sim’s speech and a big round of applause, MC Nazir “Ajill” Sallah from
Big Foot Industries and president of the Singapore Surfing Association
made a surprise declaration…the announcement of Singapore’s surfing
champions for 2011.
Receiving the Singapore
Women’s Champion award was Cheryl Tang, who though taken by surprise
delivered a heartfelt speech when asked by MC Sallah how she felt to be
Singapore’s first woman surfing champion, especially given that there is
no surf in Singapore. She replied, “I think that if there is a will
there is a way. I’m really happy to see that surfing has grown so much
in Asia, especially South East Asia, and I want to see more girls
surfing in the current generation and the younger generation, and thanks
to the ASC and the Outdoor Channel I know that’s going to happen. It’s
been a long road but it’s a really good thing for Asian surfing."
Singapore’s
Men’s Champion Nasri Banadhaj was all smiles as his name was announced,
and from the podium said, “First of all I want to thank the Indonesians
and the Malaysians for sharing their waves with us, as we don’t have
any waves in Singapore, so thanks so much for that. And a big thanks to
my crew of friends that has been surfing with me and supporting me for
so many years!
With a final thanks to the
attendees and the sponsors by MC Ajill, the formal part of the evening
was over and then it was time for some entertainment at the Wave House
Flowrider, where ASC Men’s champ Raditya Rondi and Women’s champ Bonne
Gea tried their hand at surfing a different kind of wave than what the
ocean can deliver. With a bit of coaching and hands-on help, they both
succeeded in spending a few seconds on their feet in the Flowrider.
“It’s way different than surfing for sure,” said Rondi. “I started to
get the hang of it at the end and it was really fun…really different but
really fun. When you fall its crazy, because you get swept away and
rolled around so different than in the ocean, but it’s all good. With a
bit more practice I’m sure I can get good at this!”
Billabong's
Peter Thew and Wave House's Jeff Ranta as well as several other local
experts jumped in to do a little demo to the crowd and show how it was
supposed to be done. DJ music accompanied the performance and and soon
the crowd was dancing to the beats...until long into the night.
The
ASC Awards was held in conjunction with the B.Y.O.B (Bring Your Own
Board) event that included a full day of Flowboarding, Skateboarding,
Wake Surfing, Stand Up Paddling, BMX and Bodyboarding, followed by their
awards presentation and a night of partying with top local bands and
DJ’s.
The Asian Surfing Championship Awards was
sponsored by the Wave House Sentosa, the Surfing Association of
Singapore, and Bigfoot Industries with the support of the Coca-Cola ISC
Tour, Billabong, Oakley, Quiksilver, and Rip Curl, and media partners
Outdoor Channel, Surfersvillage.com, Lines Magazine, Baliwaves.com, Thai
Surfrider Magazine, SurfTime Magazine, and Royal Video Magazine.
For more information about the ASC, see www.asiansurfingtour.com
Media Contact:
Asian Surfing Championships
Tim Hain
Media Director
Office: +62361768293
Mobile: +628123606674
Email: tim@asiansurfingtour.com
About the Asian Surfing Championships
The
goal of the Asian Surfing Championships is to grow the sport of surfing
in Asia from the grassroots level by assisting each country in creating
organized and sanctioned events that will develop the skills of their
surfers in healthy competition as well as to draw attention to their
area for the progression of surfing locally, nationally, and throughout
the Asian region.
Organized surfing competitions
have historically been the best medium for the development of surfers
and for the sport of surfing. Learning how to compete fairly and to
being disciplined in training and competition key assets needed not only
for surfing but also for life.
The ASC works with
the local, national and multinational event sponsors and organizers to
maximize the results of these competitive surfing events towards
accomplishing the goals of sharing the sport of surfing and bringing
positive economic, social, and environmental benefits to the people in
these Asian countries.
With a multi-stop and
multi-national surfing tour, Asian Surfing Champions will be crowned
each year in multiple divisions including Open, Women, Longboard,
Junior, and Master. For more see www.asiansurfingtour.com
Text and photos: Tim Hain - ASC
No comments:
Post a Comment