Kalyan Rayithi, a 16 year old surfer, is making Vizag proud with his surfing skills. He started his coaching at the age of 11 and has since then won several local and state level competitions.
Life hadn’t been easy for him as he hailed from the fisherman community but due to his passion in the sport he was able to come out as a star. He has been taking training from Melville Smythe at the SAAP/DSA Yachting Center, Rushikonda.
Image Credit: BBC
He has now been selected to participate in the Open Surfing event – Covelong Point 2016, an open surfing event being held at Kovalam, Kerala from August 26 to 29. Participants would be coming from all across the globe and Kalyan would be one of them. If he wins, it could give him a chance to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Hailing from a poor family background, he is currently studying intermediate which is being sponsored by his coach. In spite of having less surfer boards to his vicinity, he won many competitions in many places like Puri and Puducherry.
Image Credit: DNA India
Kalyan takes his inspiration from his coach, and cricketer Jonty Rhodes.
Discussion about this post