Tokong takes Thailand title

John Mark “Marama’’ Tokong fell in love with the sea, sand and sun immediately after stepping foot at the pristine Kata Beach in Thailand.

And as soon as Tokong rode his surf board, the waves promptly loved him back.

“The waves were so nice. They just came to me and everything went smoothly,’’ said Tokong after seizing the gold medal at the cutthroat men’s shortboard event in the Phuket Beach Festival 2022.

Roger Casugay, the surfing hero of the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games the country hosted, didn’t leave the arresting beauty of Phuket without a shiny metal around his neck, bringing home a bronze medal in the men’s longboard event.

Tokong, a bronze medalist in the 2019 SEA Games, registered 15.30 points in defeating Nyoman Satria Mukti of Indonesia in the four-day, 12-nation tournament where over a hundred of the finest surfers from the Asia-Pacific region converged.

“I’m lucky to be here, enjoying this competition. It’s a really amazing experience, it’s been a while since I last competed,’’ said the Siargao-based Tokong, the country’s No. 1 pro surfer.

Casugay, who earned global fame for his Pierre de Coubertin Act of Fair Play Award from the International Fair Play Committee in 2020 after saving his rival during the SEA Games held in La Union, is likewise the nation’s top bet to qualify in the coming 2024 Paris Olympics along with Tokong.

Flaunting more than just altruism, Casugay eventually ruled the men’s longboard in the 2019 SEA Games.

In Paris, surfing will be a medal event for the second time in the Olympics.