Surfing confirmed in the First South American Beach Games

South American Beach Games
Montevideo – Punta del Este
October 28, 2008

The first meeting for the organization of the South American Beach Games took place in Montevideo and Punta del Este this past weekend. The Games will be carried out from February 27 to March 8 at Montevideo and Punta del Este beaches in Uruguay.

It will be the second time an Olympic Movement Beach Games are held. The first one finished on October 27th in Bali, Indonesia where surfing had been successfully included. In fact, surfing was the favorite sport in the on-line voting at the Beach Games website.

For the South American Beach Games the ISA has appointed its Media Manager Pablo Zanocchi to serve as General Coordinator for Surfing for ODESUR’s South American Beach Gams. ISA VP Alan Atkins, served as as Surfing General Coordinator for the Asian Beach Games.

Zanocchi was born and raised in Uruguay and has an extensive experience and knowledge of the Uruguayan waves, the Uruguayan Surfing Union (NGB of surfing in the country) and in the organization of surfing events. As ISA’s delegate for the event, he’s over viewing every detail of the Surfing competition with the authorities of the Uruguayan Olympic Committee and ODESUR.

Authorities of the Uruguayan Bureau of Tourism and Sports, the Uruguayan Olympic Committee, the South American Sports Organization (ODESUR) and different representatives of the ten sports that will be part of the Games – Beach Rugby, Beach Handball, Open Sea Swimming competitions, Beach Volley, Triathlon, Water Sky, Sailing, Soccer, Fitness and Surfing- gathered together in the Radisson Victoria Plaza Hotel at Montevideo and in Solanas at Punta del Este.
In the meeting, all the technical details for the different sports were set and Surfing had its own place side by side with some Olympic Sports. Another step in the long path of surfing’s inclusion into the Olympic Games.

Surfing will have three events: Open Men, Open Women and Aloha Cup (Tag Team). Each country will participate with four Open Men and Two Open Women surfers to have a full team. Medals will be delivered to individual men and women performances and to the Aloha Cup team. Surfers will compete as members of their National Olympic Committee delegation.
Montoya is the beach chosen for the surfing event. It has a left pointbreak, a right pointbreak and a consistent beachbreak between the two points.

Fifteen countries have been invited to participate in the Games: Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Aruba and Uruguay. Ten of these countries have a national federation recognized by the International Surfing Association, thus these ten countries are expected to compete in surfing, for a total of 60 athletes.

Fernando Aguerre, ISA President, said about the presence of Surfing in this important event: “The presence of the ISA ODESUR Beach Games Coordinator, Pablo Zanocchi, along  ISA vice president Karin Sierralta and  PASA vice president Juca de Barros proves the interest we all have in turning surfing into an Olympic sport.

The ISA has just finished successfully the organization of the surf competitions in the Asian Beach Games in Bali. With the management by the ISA, recognized by the IOC, and with the support of PASA, recognized by the ISA, and USU (Uruguay Surfing Union), a member of the ISA, will are sure to have a great event in the excellent waves of Punta del Este.”

Let’s be sure we are supportive of ODESUR in this great initiative, proof of the relevance of beach sport for the youth of the world.

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).

BACK TO HOME