Mulky: They say coastal Karnataka has not yet opened up for adventure sport like surfing, but then at the Indian Open Surfing Championship, a lass from Puttur lifted the trophy showing to the world that we the people from coastal Karnataka are no underdogs!
Sinchana Gowda is all of 14 and she secured first place in women surfing in all age category and stood third in stand-up paddling for women.

A student of Class IX, she is being trained under the watchful eyes of none other than Jack Hebner or Surfing Swami of the Mantra Surf Club since 2012.

Speaking to Newskarnataka.com, Sinchana says that surfing can be a challenging arena for girls to show their talent, specially in a country like India where what girl does gives away to cultural debates.

Well, she feels that there is a sense of stigma attached to surfing and many parents do have reservation against the same when it comes to girls making career out of this.

“I was fortunate enough to have my mother support me in this decision of learning surfing,” she says adding that it is may be because of the short clothes that is mandatory to wear during surfing, which makes it a tabooed sport for girls, in a society where what girls wear is a major food for debate and discussion.

Sinchana says that when she is out for practice, local villagers near Mantra Surf Club do stare at her and wonder what she is up to, but she says, that does not bother or bog her down much because at the end of the day people who matter to her and who understand her know that surfing is her passion.

“There were so many who told me that I was barging into wrong avenue, that surfing is not for girls,” recalls Sinchana adding that her victory is an answer to all the theories that the society had presented before her.

However, this is not the first victory for Sinchana. She has won three national level competitions twice in Chennai.- first and second prize in 2011 and 2015 respectively and a first prize at Mahaballipuram. The win on home turf is the fourth one for Sinchana.

Her teacher, the Surfing Swami himself had a few words about the stigma attached to surfing for women in India. He says that apart from reservations against clothes, many parents also fear that their girls would tan and turn dark if they pursue surfing!

The three-day surfing extravaganza was held at Sasihithlu, nearly 25 km from Mangalore during last week of May.  The event was presented by the Karnataka Tourism with Surfing federation of India and was organised by Mantra Surf Club, Kanara surfing and water sports promotion council.