Young surfer Sugar Banarse dares to dream: Change surfing culture for female athletes

By the age of 16, Sugar Banarse won four National Championships.

Sugar Banarse, an 18-year-old surfer, is making waves in India and that is not just because of her championships but her broader vision where she’s on a mission to shake up how female athletes see surfing. The athlete recently bounced back from a knee injury to snag second place at the 2024 Mangalore Nationals missing first place by just a tiny margin of 0.17 points!

Sugar grew up right by the beach in Goa, and her story is pretty cool where she started out working at a local surf shop before climbing her way to becoming one of India’s top surfers. When asked about her victories, her enthusiasm is palpable: “Every time I win a competition, I feel so happy I won. Winning a national title [shows] my hard work has been rewarded. I celebrate it with my friends.”

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Drawing inspiration from Bethany Hamilton, the American surfer who returned to professional surfing after losing her arm in a shark attack, Banarse’s resilience mirrors that of her role model. “My biggest inspiration would be Bethany Hamilton,” she shares.

Her daily routine reminds everyone the commitment required for success in professional surfing. “I usually surf seven hours a day. When I am with my coach we wake up super early and evening we do a workout…routine work like every day. I am fully pursuing surfing,” she explains.

At 16, Banarse’s talent caught the attention of coach Samai De Kallialay who offered her training in Pondicherry. That same year she proved her potential by claiming second place in her debut competition at the Covelong Indian Nationals. By 2022, she had won four national championships which led to an opportunity at the Phoenix camp in Phuket that develops promising athletes.

Her approach to competition varies based on the level of challenge. “Well, it depends on what competition, I meditate for nationals and to be particular there are negligible players at my level in nationals. But for international I have to prepare a lot,” she shares.

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Looking ahead, Banarse’s goals extend beyond national borders. “My goals would be to win events and make India proud,” she shares and with surfing now an Olympic sport, she has even bigger dreams: “Yes I would like to be in Olympics one day, but for now I am focusing on going stronger on my knees and trying to be working with lots of coaches and hopefully one day I would be at Olympics.”

The support system behind her success remains limited but crucial. “It is hard to get support as it is new sport in India. But my biggest support has been my mom and as far as sponsorship is concerned, I am helped by Welspun Foundation and one more support I get is from sky who makes surfboard for me and they supply me boards,” Banarse explains.

Even when not riding waves, her focus remains on getting better of herself: “I usually rest a lot and sleep a lot and I continue training, I go to the gym when I am not in the water. Yeah I just chill at home mostly.”

As a female athlete in a nascent sport in India, Banarse faces unique challenges. “Honestly getting support and being a girl and doing this sport and many people like say what are you doing being a girl,” she reveals.

Even through all these challenges, she sees an opportunity for change, “I think Surfing is growing a lot and I want to be a role model for women and overcoming their fear of water,” she says.

Whatever future stores in for Sugar but her inspirational journey from a worker in a local surf school to four-time national champion and an aspiring athlete, taking part in surfing competitions at home and abroad such as the Tamil Nadu International Surf Open Qualifying Series and Red Bull Surfing fully signals her commitment and dedication to her art.

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