India secured its first-ever surfing spots for the Asian Games, with both men’s and women’s teams qualifying at the Asian Surfing Championships 2024 in the Maldives yesterday. With this Indian surfers will compete at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The quotas were earned based on the ranking points from the championships, which also serve as qualifiers for the Asian Games. Eight Indian surfers competed across four categories.

Kishore Kumar reached the semi-finals in the U-18 Boys category and played a key role in securing the Asian Games quota, despite not advancing further. He finished third in his semi-final heat with a score of 8.26.

Harish Muthu became the first Indian to reach the quarter-finals, while Kamali Moorthy and Sugar Banarse were eliminated in the opening round of the women’s competition.