Filipino surfers Marama Tokong and Roger Casugay bag medals in the recently held Phuket Beach Festival 2022 in Thailand.
Filipino surfers had a successful run at the recently- concluded Phuket Beach Festival 2022 held in Thailand from Aug. 25-28 as 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalists John Mark Tokong and Roger Casugay brought home the gold and bronze medal, respectively.
Tokong, 26,also called “Marama,” rode the tides towards the championship as he conquered the waves of Kata Beach, bagging the gold medal in the men’s shortboard competition.
He beat Indonesian surfer Nyoman Satria Mukti, who registered 13.4 points to settle for the silver medal, by tallying 15.30 points for a 1.9-point margin to claim the title.
“The surf’s really good,” said the Phuket Beach Fest champ as he talked to Spin.ph over the phone before his flight back to the Philippines.
“In the competition, I felt really confident. Surf lang talaga,” he added.
Casugay, another gold medalist from the 2019th edition of the SEAG held in La Union, and was given the Pierre de Coubertin Act of Fair Play Award of the International Fair Play Committee in Budapest last 2020, snagged the bronze medal in the men’s longboard event.
Dewi Pirdaus of Indonesia went head-to-head with Casugay in the semifinals and collected 17.9 points to overpower Casugay who had 17.3.
Pirdaus was then outscored by Dean Permana in the finals with 17.5 points while the Indonesian had 15.3.
“This win is another reason to celebrate for the Philippines which proved once again that Filipino talents can keep up and be at par with the best of the best surfers in the world,” said officials of the United Philippines Surfing Association in a statement.
“Marami pang ma-a-achieve this year,” Casugay then said regarding the future developmentof Philippine surfing. “Halos lahat ngayon, pursigido mag-training para maging malakas na athlete.”
Tags: #surfing, #beach, #sports