Tipi Jabrik’s Grom Patrol India, presented by Arun Vasu, concluded last weekend in Kovalam with the three Indian surfers who will compete at the Grom Patrol Grand Final in Bali now confirmed. Qualification for Bali is decided on cumulative points across the full India series rather than by the results of last Saturday’s final alone, meaning the Kovalam winner and the Bali qualifier were not always the same surfer.
Som Sethi, Aadya Singh and Harish P are the three names heading to Bali.
Som Sethi Qualifies on Series Points
A win at the Mangalore stop, backed up by a runner-up finish at Covelong, gave him the overall series lead going into the final event. Kishore Kumar won Saturday’s Under 18 Boys final itself — posting a two-wave total of 15.33 to Sethi’s 7.60 — but had not competed at Mangalore, leaving him without enough points to catch Sethi in the overall standings. The Bali spot went to Sethi as a result. “I’m really excited to be going to Bali for the Grand Final,” Sethi said. “I’ve been to Bali before and love the waves there, so I’m really looking forward to competing there. I knew I had a good chance to earn the spot after winning in Mangalore, so now I’m just going to surf and train as much as I can so I can perform well when I get to Bali.”
Aadya Singh Qualifies After Mangalore Win
The same points system decided the Under 18 Girls spot. Kamali Moorthy, India’s top-ranked surfer in her divisions, won Saturday’s final with a 15.17 total, but had not entered the Mangalore event. That left the series lead, and the Bali qualification, with Aadya Singh, who had won the Under 18 Girls division at Mangalore on her home break.
Singh said she had assumed her chance had passed once she was eliminated before the finals. “Honestly, I didn’t really expect that I would get the spot,” she said. “When I didn’t make it to the final here, I thought I didn’t have a chance anymore. So it was a big surprise, and such an amazing opportunity. I’ve only been surfing for about two and a half years, and this will be a great way to improve my surfing.”
Harish P Qualifies by Defending His Title
The Under 16 Boys division was the one instance where the Kovalam result and the Bali qualification lined up directly. Harish P, younger brother of Kamali Moorthy, won the final to defend the title he took last year, securing the points and the automatic return trip to Bali in the process.
“I’m so glad I could win again today so I can go back to Bali and compete again,” he said. “Last year I only made it to Round 3, so this year my goal is to reach the final. I’ve been training hard and trying to improve all the time, so I’m feeling confident I can do better. I really like Bali, the waves there are amazing, and the event is so much fun. Thanks for giving me another chance to go back.”
Second Year Running for a Two-Stop India Series
This is the second consecutive year the India series has run across two stops, an expansion organisers credit to continued investment from Arun Vasu and his team in developing the pathway to Bali for junior surfers.
“This Grom Patrol junior program has more than met my expectations,” Vasu said. “Compared to last year we have more kids, they’re surfing better, and we’re all much better organized. We even had a live stream to showcase the event to a much wider audience here in India. The reward of a trip to Bali gives these young surfers a real goal to work towards.”
