Chennai’s Groms surfer, Kishore Kumar, stunned everyone with his performance under testing conditions as he made his way into the semifinals with the highest score of 12.67 on the opening day of the 4th edition of the Indian Open of Surfing at Sasihthlu beach here on Thursday.

Other surfers who got high scores from the judges were Tayin Arun(10.83), Dinesh Selvamani(09.53), Sekar Pachai (09.0) Harish P(8.63) and Selvam M(08.53).

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Winds and rain played spoilsport at the end as the judges had to call it a day before the proceedings of the Women’s Open semi-finals could begin. The said category will now be played tomorrow on Day 2.

The first day’s round saw Karnataka and Tamil Nādu surfers dominate the proceedings in both the Men’s open and Groms (U16) categories. 12 surfers from Round 1 in men’s category today advanced to the Round 2 where they will meet another 16 surfers who already have qualified for the second-round basis of their rankings in last year.

Now a total of 28 surfers from the men’s open category will battle it out tomorrow in the Round 2 to ensure their place for the quarterfinals that are scheduled to be held later in the day.

Dinesh Selvamani who registered the highest score of 09.53 today from the judges in the men’s open category said, “The conditions and competitions were equally challenging. The field for tomorrow’s Round is very strong and anyone can make their way into the quarterfinals.’

The Groms (U16) category also saw a stiff competition from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka surfers as 4 surfers from each state have booked their semi-final berths which are scheduled for tomorrow.

“The conditions were good and clean early in the morning. Wind set in little earlier than expected, so competition went on hold at Noon. Overall, it was a good start to the competition with surfers making best of the conditions available”, said Competition Director, Nawaz Jabbar.