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Rammohan Paranjape is perhaps one of India's biggest surfing enthusiasts and has made a name for himself in the surfing ecosystem. One of the founding members of the Surfing Federation of India, Paranjape has played a pivotal role in developing surfing in India for nearly a decade, helping introduce various policies and programs.
An avid surfer himself, Paranjape has documented his surfing explorations, which has gained him worldwide recognition.
The first surfing photographer of India recently caught up with Sportskeeda and opened up on his journey in surfing, its popularity in India, and the inclusion of the sport at the Olympics.
Read excerpts from the interview below:
Q: What is it in surfing that attracted you towards the sport?
Rammohan Paranjape: Well, when we started surfing, which was about almost 20 years ago, we were the first generation surfers. And at that time, we didn't see it as a sport, we didn't see it as anything like what it is today. It was rather having more fun in the water. It was just enjoying the ocean, enjoying just the basics of surfing, just for the pure fun and joy of surfing. And yeah, that was the only attraction we had, I had, at least towards surfing when we started.
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Q: How does it feel to see surfing being a part of the Olympics?
Rammohan Paranjape: I think it's been a long journey for surfing to be included as part of the Olympics. I think almost a century ago, one of the surfing legends, Duke Kahanamoku, envisioned seeing surfing as part of the Olympics and it's taken almost a century for surfing to be included as part of the Olympics, starting with the inaugural - Tokyo Olympics - it was one of the top five most viewed or followed sport in that Olympics. I think they are hoping that the Paris Olympics is also going to be the same where surfing is going to get a lot of traction, it's going to get a lot of viewership and all that.
It's great for the sport, surfing is very exciting, there's a lot of young following, a lot of young population follows surfing globally and it's not just limited to one particular region, it's popular in a lot of continents, it's popular in Europe, it's popular in North America, South America, it's quite popular even in Asia now, it's quite popular in Australia so it has a good reach globally and hence we see I think surfing is going to do very well in the coming Paris Olympics as well, yeah it's going to be exciting.
Q: What do you think are India's chances of securing an Olympic berth in surfing?
Rammohan Paranjape: See honestly I think we are still not there yet and also at the same time it's not our immediate goal. To qualify for the Olympics is going to be exciting. I think we are on a track where we want to be regionally. You know regionally in Southeast Asia, we want to be a strong very strong surfing nation and after that, we want to be one of the best in Asia and then we can start thinking globally on how we can complete at the Olympic level how we can qualify for Olympics you know which is like qualifying at the very highest stage to do that.
So we are not immediately cracking our heads to qualify or to see India's representation at the Olympics because our goal at Mantra Surf Club is to focus more on what we need to do at the grassroots level and what we need to do at the regional level. At the same time, the qualifying procedure for surfing at the Olympics is quite complicated.
Normally the qualification for other events is quite regional-based, the best from Asia - qualified for the Olympics - and the best from a certain continent. That's how people are represented, our people qualify for the Olympics. Whereas with surfing, what's happening is a lot of us are getting pitched against Europeans, we are getting pitched against South American countries and all of that. It's not continental -based, the draw is happening in such a way that anyone from India can get pitched against the highest top-ranked country or top-ranked athletes from around the world, which makes it very difficult for a young surfing nation to be seeded against top-seeds or the top-surfing nations.
Hopefully, in the future, it will be rather more regional-based seeding and regional-based qualification than at a global level. But anyhow, yeah, the global level Olympics is still quite far and we are rather more focused on things that we need to do on the ground here.
Q: When do you reckon India can become a surfing superpower? What all needs to be done to get to that point?
Rammohan Paranjape: As I said we are focusing more at the regional level, we've had some great results at last year's Asian surfing championships which were held in Maldives - India came overall third as a team, There were some individual performances and Indian team was very well appreciated for its skills and its surfing power, and a lot of the surfing countries have taken a note of how quickly we've made progress in terms of becoming a respectable surfing nation.
We are on par with some of the traditional surfing countries such as Sri Lanka and Maldives. But, we have to be as good as Indonesia, we need to be as good as Japan and all these countries because these are some of the countries from Asia which have been surfing for over more than 50 plus years now, they have a long rich history of surfing which makes them a better surfing nation than us.
For us to get there, we need to do a lot more and yeah that's what we are focusing on at the Mantra Surf Club and Surfing Federation of India - how do we make sure that we have programs and developmental programs at the grassroots level for athletes, how do you give them a lot more exposure, how do we make all these athletes on par with some of the best in the continent, and eventually global. We need to get that kind of funding and support from the government, from sponsors, and all of that. And I think if we do get it, I think it's possible for India to become a surfing superpower.
Q: How do you think surfing's popularity in India will increase? Will a franchise-based league help?
Rammohan Paranjape: So I think surfing has definitely grown a lot and it has become one of the most popular outdoor activities for a lot of youngsters. A lot of young Indians, especially in the southern region, considering cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai want to go and try surfing. They want to experience surfing. So surfing's popularity as a recreational activity has definitely been growing. But now the franchise-based league is more towards competitive surfing, which is yet to grow the way it's supposed to be growing.
The competitive side of surfing is going to be quite a challenge because surfing would be limited only to coastal towns and cities and villages. And that too, where there is some good surf is possible.
So I think at this moment franchise-based leagues would be too early because we don't have that kind of pool of surfers, competitive surfers, nor do we have a fan base or a viewership.
There is a very niche community that follows surfing and surfers, but it is still not big enough to go for a franchise-based league at the moment. Maybe in the future as surfing grows and as more competitive surfers come along - there is more viewership and fan following - at that point, probably in a decade or so we can think of some kind of franchise-based league.
