Anton top seed at Nias surf contest

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

National hopeful Anton Dakhi has been named the top seed at the Ya'ahowu International Surfing Contest, which will start on Friday in Nias, North Sumatra.

Governor Rizal Nurdin is scheduled to officially commence the three-day tournament, which is being staged at Sorake Lagundri.

A total of Rp 60 million in cash prizes will be up for grabs.

"This guy from Nias is the top seed because of his impressive performance last year when he won a junior international event in Bali," Clement H. Gultom, an official of the organizing committee, said here on Tuesday.

Gultom said 15-year-old Anton was in peak form for contending the championship title at this year's Ya'ahowu surfing event.

He was optimistic that Anton had a good chance at spoiling the domination of foreign participants by grabbing the top place.

The event will see 25 local surfers, including Somali Buelele of Nias, who finished in third place in 2000. The local contenders will also come from Bali.

The event was not held last year because of floods.

Agus Mendrova, the deputy regent of Nias, told The Jakarta Post that as many as 30 foreign participants had already arrived and tried the arena.

Participants have come from Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and the United States.

Agus said that the committee had done its best in its preparations to make the event a success.