A TOTAL 179 surfers are taking on the challenge of General Luna’s waves on Siargao Island starting Friday in the QS6,000 Siargao International Surfing Cup by the World Surf League (WSL).
But not only will a king and queen of the waves from the mighty Pacific Ocean be hailed, but Siargao and the entire country’s sports tourism campaign will be invigorated in the event that ends on October 31.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio thanked the WSL for choosing Siargao as primary venue for the major global surfing competition.
“The biggest tourism events in the world are sporting events and this is the work of PSC under my leadership—the longer we can do this, the better we can do this, if we get all the support from local government, the WSL, then will be big and this will be good for the country,” Gregorio told Thursday’s pre-competition press conference at Siargao’s Cloud 9.
“That is the beauty of sports,” Gregorio said. “It is a great equalizer. It is not for the rich, it is not for the poor, it is for everybody.”
WSL Asia Pacific (APAC) president Andrew Stark said that the first of the four qualifying legs of the series would definitely be a hit—including top Filipinos John Mark Tokong and British-Japanese Sky Brown.
“It’s powerful for kids of this community to see what the possibilities are, what the best surfers in the world are doing,” Stark said.
The qualifying series offers a total Australian $50,000 (roughly P1.9 million), making the global professional surfing event more prestigious and competitive.
“These sporting events bring a lot to the community from the sport perspective and economically as well,” Stark added.
With Gregorio and Stark at the head table of the press conference were WSL APAC Tour Director Ty Sorati, Stark, General Luna Vice Mayor Romina Rusillon-Sejulga, SDMI Sports Technical Director John Carby, Siargao Island Surfers Association president Nildie Blancada and Janice Regino, who represented Surigao Del Norte Governor Robert Lyndon Barbers.
Australian pros Dane Henry and Milla Coco Brown and Taj Stokes, 16-year-old Dylan Wilcoxen of Indonesia, Filipino Philmar Alipayo and Japanese Sara Wakita are among the surfers to watch this week.
“The Philippines is definitely a strong country when it comes to surfing and we are excited to continue discussions in expanding the events and making them bigger,” Stark added. “There is certainly an opportunity for Cloud 9 to expand into the future because it is such an iconic wave.”
After Siargao, the WSL series will be in Baler from November 17 to 23 and La Union from January 11 to 16 and 20 to 26.
