Costa Rica wins the Latin Pro Nicaragua 2011
Cinthia Membreño | Aug 29, 2011
Costa Rica is the maximum winner, while Nicaragua, Argentina and Peru won their tittle in other categories.
After three days of competition, the Costa Rican surfer Jason Torres was crowned the champion of the Latin Pro Nicaragua 2011 on Sunday, August 28, after competing with his fellow citizen Luis Vindas in the Open category. This Latin American tournament, which was held last weekend in Playa Maderas (San Juan del Sur), also featured other categories and its winners: the Nicaraguan Rex Calderon (Junior), the Argentinean Martin Perez (Longboard) and the Peruvian Analí Gomez (Ladies).
"I'm happy that I won and got to represent my country in this competition. I worked so hard for this and put my whole effort in it," said enthusiastically Jason Torres after leaving the ocean and hearing that we has the champion of the Latin Pro Nicaragua 2011. In addition, Torres said he was delighted to have the opportunity to spend time with other Nicaraguan surfers and talked about the importance of maintaining a sense of solidarity between both countries. "It is the first time that I visit the country and I liked the way Nicaraguans treated me. This has been a very special experience," he stated.
Before the triumph of the Costa Rican, the Nicaraguan Rex Calderon was named the winner of the Junior category. A large group of fans ran along the coast to welcome him. They gave him a Nicaraguan flag and carried him on their shoulders. In this competition, Calderon finished his round of waves with a punctuation of 13.33, leaving the second place to the Peruvian Joaquin del Castillo (9.20), the third place to the Costa Rican Anthony Fillingim (8.90) and the fourth place to the Ecuadoran Jonathan Chila (7.54).
During the event, Karin Sierralta - vicepresident of the Latin American Association of Professional Surfers (ALAS) - said to be amazed by the commitment of Nicaraguans, the national media and the government in relation to the support they give to this kind of events. "National surfers already have excellent waves and natural training spots, but they need help in order to turn this sport into a healthy lifestyle," he declared. He also mentioned that, despite the fact that the weather did not help to have the good waves that are usually found in Nicaragua, organizers do want to come back with more sport events.
World Surfing Championship in Nicaragua?
As we mentioned before on our previous article, government authorities and organizers of the event announced that they had made a request to the International Surfing Association (ISA), so that Nicaragua becomes the headquarters of next year's World Surfing Championship.
Lucy Valenti, member of the organizing committee, explained during the event that they will wait for the recommendations that ISA's representatives might do concerning this championship. Once they talk to them, they will know if Nicaragua is ready to host an event of this magnitude. A good sign is that ALAS' vice president said that he will support this request. "There's a 90% chance that the tournament will be held here," he declared.
At the beginning of the award ceremony, Mario Salinas, President of INTUR, officially announced that the Latin Pro will be held annually in Nicaragua. Next year, the competition will take place in three different countries: Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.