This week, three surfers from Tamil Nadu, Kishore Kumar, Kamali Moorty, and Sivaraj Babu, received structured state support under two separate schemes run by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT). While funding in Indian surfing has often been independent, private and event-driven, this development signals something more deliberate: an institutional shift toward recognising surfers as serious medal prospects rather than fringe athletes.
Kishore and Kamali have been selected under Mission International Medals (MIM), a high-performance program designed to systematically prepare elite Tamil Nadu athletes for international podium finishes. Unlike reward-based schemes that offer one-time incentives, MIM is structured as a long-term performance pathway. Its objective is to identify athletes with realistic potential to win medals at the Asian Games, World Championships, and even the Olympics, and to build a comprehensive support system around them.
This milestone did not happen overnight. “A lot of groundwork has been done by Arun Vasu and the SFI,” Siddharth Hande, President of Tamil Nadu Surfing Association shared, referring to efforts by the Surfing Federation of India to position surfers within formal state and national systems. The validation from SDAT, he explained, carries weight. “SDAT does a lot for athletes. Having athletes being awarded by them is a big deal for us.”
Under this scheme, financial assistance go up to ₹12 lakh in certain categories, but the structure is performance- and expense-based. “It’s not a lump sum money going into the account or anything. It’s all reimbursement,” Hande clarified. Athletes are required to upload certificates, competition records, and documentation directly through the system when applications open. “We let the athletes know when the applications are open and they are expected to submit their profiles and certificates,” he added, highlighting the formal, compliance-driven nature of the process.
Hande also noted that SDAT has a higher elite category that offers up to ₹30 lakh in support for top-performing athletes — a level the association now sees as the next milestone.
Sivaraj, on the other hand, has been selected under the Championship Development Scheme (CDS), also administered by SDAT. CDS functions differently from MIM. It is not a long-term elite pathway and offers up to ₹4 lakh of financial assistance. The scheme assists emerging and competitive athletes representing Tamil Nadu or India in recognised national and international competitions, ensuring that financial constraints do not prevent participation.
In Indian surfing, where training often requires the athletes to explore surf breaks to reach the international competitive calibre, this support addresses one of the sport’s most persistent barriers: access.
A few months prior, Kishore Kumar and Ramesh Budihal were selected under the Target Asian Games Group (TAGG) — initiative launched by the Sports Authority of India in April 2025. TAGG was introduced to support India’s medal prospects for the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. Modelled on the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), the program provides tailored, individualised assistance, funding, and foreign training exposure to a select group of athletes across Olympic and non-Olympic disciplines. With only 37 athletes initially shortlisted across 16 disciplines, inclusion under TAGG signals recognition at the national level as a serious medal prospect.
Tamil Nadu has long been the nucleus of competitive surfing in India. With structured backing now entering both state and national ecosystems, the pathway becomes clearer for the next generation.
