Ecuador hosts the 2009 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship

In the last months, the International Surfing Association selected Ecuador as the host of one of the biggest surfing events in the planet and the most important for the Junior divisions: the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship.

The seventh edition of the most significant surfing championship for under 18 surfers of the world will take place on the beautiful Ecuadorian coast. It has not yet been defined whether it will be carried out at Salinas or Manta.

In the last years, Ecuador has become an excellent host for international events: the World Surfing Games, the Pan American surfing Games, the Bolivarian Games and several stages of the Latin American Surfing Tour –ALAS- have been carried out there.

The President of the Ecuadorian Surfing Federation, Manolo Lozano, who is a great surfer, member of the Master Ecuadorian team, and one of the main persons responsible for the solid evolution of Ecuadorian surfing in the last years, was very enthusiastic with the good news and said the following in an interview with World Surfing News:

How are you feeling about Ecuador being selected as the next location for the World Junior Surfing Championship?
I’m really happy. This is a new opportunity that will keep developing surfing and surfers in our country. We have to pay special attention to the Junior divisions because this is where the future of our surfing is.

Why do you think Ecuador was the chosen one?
There is a good relationship between ISA and the Ecuadorian Surfing Federation, and also among the countries that are in the ISA and Ecuador.

Ecuador had also been the venue of many international tournaments like:

Bolivarian Olympic Surfing Championship (only the countries of the Bolivarian area participated in it: Venezuela, Panamá, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia), which was the first event in the Olympic South American tour.

Pan American Surfing Games

2004 ISA World Surfing Games.

All these events had proved that Ecuador is well prepared to organize international surfing tournaments.

All the teams that have visited Ecuador in previous championships have shared great moments, thus Ecuador has become one of the favourite surfing destinations where many surfers want to come back.

Moreover, Ecuador has very consistent waves because it is located in the half of the world; it receives swells from the north and from the south and that’s why you can surf during the whole year here.

Besides, Ecuador is in the middle so it is easy to get here from any part of the world.

If we take into account the tourism, Ecuador has a lot of interesting places; it is a small country so it is easy to get to its four natural areas which are:

Coast
Mountain (the Andes)
Amazon region  (jungle in many areas)
Galápagos Islands

What are we going to see in Ecuador next year that we haven’t seen in previous editions of the Juniors?
Ecuador has a varied coast profile with a great variety of wavesThere are several pointbreaks and beachbreaks which could be visited in a short time by the teams.

The people have kept many of its ancestral traditions and they enjoy sharing it with the groups who visit them.

Ecuador is also a country that has great biodiversity and that’s why it is an unforgettable experience to visit it.

It can be said that Ecuador has earned a great reputation in the organization of international events, with the ALAS and the Wold Surfing Games in 2004, why do you think that is so?
Ecuador has been working hard in the organization of international events not only with institutions but also with private groups. And any person who has visited Ecuador has spent a wonderful time in the events organized by the Ecuadorian Surfing Federation.

The reputation that we’ve earned in organizing international events was earned by hard and enthusiastic work of all the people and institutions that are related to surfing in our country.

What do you think about the Ecuadorian Surfing Team competing as locals in such an important event?
The team will be competing in its own territory and it has to train hard to be among the best teams in the World Championship. This is the best chance our surfers have and they can’t miss it.

About International Surfing Association
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for surfing, bodyboarding and surfriding. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running world championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980. 

ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over 50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio, and re-elected six times since.  The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Alan Atkins (Australia), Robin de Kock (South Africa), Maile Aguerre (Hawaii) and Mike Gerard (USA).

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