12 March, 2022 – Kuta, Bali:  The temperature at Kuta Beach today was a scorching 35 degrees under clear skies and only a slight breeze, with the ocean temperature around 30 degrees, and the surfing action in the water was equally sizzling as the competitors fought to stay in the running for the finals of the Liga Surfing Indonesia, where champions will be crowned tomorrow afternoon.

The waves were small and glassy to start off the day’s action for the Under 10 boys, but the low tide conditions proved challenging as many of the waves were closing out.  But Legian’s supergrom Gede Darma Wisesa was up to the task, earning 6.67 points for his first wave, the highest single wave score of the round, and then adding a 5.50 score the end the heat with the highest total wave score of 12.17 (out of a possible 20) points.  Diki Anwar from Medewi had the second highest total score of 9.40.

Gede Darma Wisesa

The Women’s Open Quarterfinals were next, and a virtual repeat from yesterday, with Kuta’s Dhea Natasya was able to find the two best waves and post the two best scores to advance into the Semifinals along with runner up Ziggy Mackenzie (Bingin).  Interestingly, all the competitors in Quarterfinal 3 were from Kuta;  Dhea Natasya, Lidia Kato, Ketut Tia, and Meli Suto.

The 27 strong field of Junior Boys took to the water just before midday, with a very slowly rising tide and slow wave conditions with single maneuvers and wave scores of 4 to 5 out of 10 considered good surfing for the conditions at hand.  Sanur’s Made Nesa earned the highest single wave score of a 5.87 in Heat 5, and with his 4.17 won the heat with the highest combined score of 9.84.  Second highest combined score came from Koldo Radin, also from Sanur, with a 9.67.

Made Nesa

The Men’s Open Round Two had some amazing performances, with Indonesia’s best male surfers performing almost impossible maneuvers given the small and bumpy conditions they were given.  Dhany Widianto from Kuta put on an absolute small wave clinic, ripping the waves apart to score the event’s highest single wave score so far, an excellent 8.5 out of a possible 10 points.  His total score was a massive 16.00 points!  Second spot went to Kuta team mate Ketut Agus, whose highest single wave score was 7 points and his total store was 12.20.

Dhany Widianto

PSOI President Arya Subyakto is on the judging panel and had this to say about what he witnessed during the competition. “I was very impressed with the performances of these Indonesian surfers today,” he said.  “This is what it’s all about when they want to compete on the WSL’s Qualifying Series events, being able to surf in very demanding conditions such as we’re seeing today and still putting up good scores.  Competing in conditions such as these, they will be much better prepared to compete all over the world, because frequently they will face conditions like this in events.  It’s not always great waves on tour.  In Indonesia we have such good waves, so in the past many of our surfers haven’t done well when faced with bad conditions.  But from what I’m seeing here today, that has definitely changed and I’m very optimistic about the future of Indonesia surfing.”

You can view all event highlights on Vidio at https://vidio.com@asiansurfco and live scores on on Live Heats at https://www.liveheats.com/ligasurfingindonesia

Tomorrow will see the conclusion of this first ever Liga Surfing Indonesia Grand Final, where the awarding party will be held at approximately 5 pm, so come on down and cheer on the surfers and enjoy being part of history!

Important Environmental Fact:   Consistent with the Asian Surf Cooperative’s mission to help clean up the environment, every ASC event runs as a plastic free event, with all staff and crew bringing their own water tumblers and filling them at the water stations provided, lunch packaging is natural banana leaves, trash containers are provided, and environmental organizations are invited to attend and share the message of environmental awareness.  For the LSI, Sungai Watch set up a tent and is sharing their message, as well as accepting donations in exchange for T-shirts and other merchandise.  Learn more at https://sungai.watch/

Follow the LSI and ASC on our website at  https://asiansurf.co/lsi/ and on Instagram at @ligasurfingindonesia and @asiansurf.co

The Liga Surfing Indonesia is sanctioned by the PSOI (Persatuan Selancar Ombak Indonesia), operated by the ASC (Asian Surf Cooperative), sponsored by Vans Indonesia, East Ventures, Bintang, Mamaka and Earth Island, support for LiveHeats from Billabong, Quiksilver, and Rip Curl, and supported by the Indonesian Tourism Ministry (Kemenpar), Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemempora), National Sports Committee of Indonesia(KONI), and the Indonesia Olympic Committee (KOI)

Media Support by: 

Baliwaves: https://www.instagram.com/baliwaves

BaliBelly https://instagram.com/balibelly

Surfing Indonesia https://instagram.com/surfingindonesia_org

SurfTime Magazine https://instagram.com/surftime_magazine

 

About the Liga Surfing Indonesia

The focus of the LSI is on providing Indonesia’s current and future boardriders clubs with the opportunity to be part of a system that will result in them playing a key role in the development of surfing talent, growing the surf industry, and growing surfing tourism in Indonesia.  Having them to fund and organize several of their own surfing events each year has them acting as a business entity, event organizer and media creator in addition to the development and nurturing of the surfing talent in their community.

 

About the Asian Surfing Cooperative

The Asian Surf Cooperative is a professional surfing organization with 16 years of experience in the organizing, managing and supporting surfing events around the Asian region, from local boardriders club competitions to WSL World Championship Tour events.

The Asian Surf Cooperative provides event management, live scoring, ISA certified judges, contest directors, digital photography and videography, event media packages, rankings, media coverage and distribution, and also assists the ISA in organizing Surf and SUP Instructor and International Judging courses.

From local grassroots boardriders and grommet (junior) events to specialty and World Surf League events, the ASC’s purpose and goal remains the same:  To grow the sport of surfing in the Asian region by offering reliable and consistent resources and assistance to both small and large organizations who are helping to make Asia’s surfing athlete’s dreams come true.