On Monday, two of the Big Island’s most decorated surfers departed for Japan to compete in the prestigious ISA World Junior Surfing Championships. Selected among Hawaii’s top amateur surfers, Ocean Donaldson-Sargis, 16, and Brodi Sale, 14, are eager to represent
On Monday, two of the Big Island’s most decorated surfers departed for Japan to compete in the prestigious ISA World Junior Surfing Championships. Selected among Hawaii’s top amateur surfers, Ocean Donaldson-Sargis, 16, and Brodi Sale, 14, are eager to represent Hawaii and Big Island on surfing’s world stage. The 2017 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship will gather surfing’s top 18-and-under surfers to represent their nations and compete for gold from Sept. 23 to Oct. 1.
The event will take place at Okuragahama Beach in Hyuga City on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu.
The contest will be live streamed at isaworlds.com/juniors/2017/en/.
The ISA World Junior Surfing Championship is the largest junior surfing contest in the world, with the 2016 edition in the Azores breaking participation records for the second consecutive year with 371 athletes from 39 countries.
“Bringing the world’s best junior surfers to Japan for the first time in over 25 years is an exciting development for our sport globally,” ISA President Fernando Aguerre said in a release. “It’s also an important affirmation of the growth and popularity of surfing in Japan following the decision to include surfing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”
