The Korean national surfing team will challenge for a spot in the 2026 Aichi Nagoya Asian Games at the Asian Surfing Championships held in Thulusdhoo, Maldives starting on the 17th. The Nagoya competition is the first competition in which surfing was adopted as an official event in the Asian Games.
The Asian Games quota will be distributed to each country in the 2024 and 2025 Asian Championships, with a total of 12 quotas, one for each gender. Depending on the results of this year and next year’s competitions, Korea could secure up to two quotas for each gender.
In the Asian Championship, the Asian region is divided into five regions (East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia), and one Asian Games ticket is given to the top country in each region. Since the East Asia region, which Korea belongs to, includes China and Japan, it is difficult to secure a ticket for each region. However, after the regional ticket distribution is complete, if a country ranks within the top 7 among the remaining countries, excluding the countries that secured the quota, it can secure a ticket.
The Korean national surfing team will have a total of 8 athletes competing in the men’s division (Kanoa Heejae Palmiano, Yang Jinhyeok, Jeong Uijong), women’s division (Lee Na-ra, Lim Su-jeong), and men’s junior division (Yoon Do-hoon, Mok Ha-jin, Jeon Seo-hyeon).
Song Min, the national surfing team coach, said, “We will do our best to secure two places each for the men and women in the Asian Surfing Championships this year and next year so that we can achieve our goal of a medal at the 2026 Asian Games without any problems.” A total of 121 athletes from 20 countries will participate in this competition. Korea is aiming to rank within the top five in the overall rankings.
Thulusdhoo, where this competition is held, is the most famous surfing mecca in the Maldives. The ‘Cokes’ area is particularly famous. It has ideal conditions for surfing with strong swells (average strength and direction of waves coming from the open sea) and consistent waves. Also, the waves that bend to the right are a challenging environment that requires technical surfing.
Surfing was first adopted as an official Olympic event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and accordingly, it was included as an official event at this Asian Games as well. Korean surfing is aiming for its first surfing medal at the 2026 Asian Games.
Reporter Im Bo-mi [email protected]
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2024-08-18 12:59:29