The fascination for surfing continues to grow in the Asian region. Often a popular sport in the Olympics, the sport in the deep sea has steadily extended its reach far and wide.
For adventure seeking fans, the Asian Surfing Championships will provide an opportunity to immerse in a high-octane action in the open sea.
The Asian Surfing Championships 2025 will be held on the beaches of iconic Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, India. The continental surfing showpiece is being held for the first time in the country. The event will take place from 04 to 12 August, 2025.
Over 150 surfers from 20 countries will compete in Mahabalipuram.
Asian Surfing Championships 2025: Participating Countries
Here are the list of participating countries at Asian Surfing Championships 2025:
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
People’s Republic of China
Indonesia
India (Host)
Japan
Republic of Korea
Kuwait
Lebanon
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Malaysia
Maldives
Myanmar
Philippines
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Chinese Taipei
Thailand
UAE
Uzbekistan
Asian Surfing Championships 2025: Format
The event will adopt international surfing formats, starting with seeding rounds where the top two from each heat progress directly to the main draw, while the rest get another shot through repechage heats.
The competition will then enter quarter-finals, semi-finals and culminate in a four-surfer final.
Defending champions
In the last edition of the Asian Surfing Championships in 2024 in the Maldives, Japan won the gold medal while India bagged a silver medal at the Maruhaba Cup, a team event, and secured a quota for the upcoming Asian Games.
What is at stake?
The event in Mahabalipuram will also serve as the final surfing qualifiers for the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.
The men’s and women’s champions will also earn direct entry to the SurfCity El Salvador ALAS Global Finals in November.
Also Read: World Aquatics Championships: Spain Defends Water Polo Crown
Eye on LA Olympics 2028
Surfing made its long-pending Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 with two medal events – men’s shortboard and women’s shortboard. The same events were part of the Paris 2024 Olympics as well. Now, athletes are looking to make it big at the LA 2028 Olympics and events like Asian Surfing Championships will provide surfers to test international waters and prepare themselves for the international glory.
The Asian Surfing Championships was founded in 2011. They are headquartered in Bali and led by Tipi Jabrik. ASC encourages surfing in Asian countries and helps other countries establish events. The objective of the Championship is to develop the skills of surfers through competition, promote the sport in media and expand its outreach to formerly unfamiliar regions. It’s makes effort in the advancement of surfing locally, regionally and internationally. ASC works with local, national and multinational event sponsors to maximize the impact of competitive surfing events.
Every year during a multi-national surfing tour, Asian Surfing Champions are crowned in multiple divisions: Open, Women, Longboard, Junior and Master.
