Renowned Moroccan surfer, Ramzi Boukhiam, won Morocco’s first ever medal in this year’s International Surfing Association’s (ISA) World Surfing Games, coming in second in the tournament which ended yesterday in Puerto Rico and securing his ticket for the Paris-2024 Olympic Games.
The 30-year-old Agadir native finished behind Brazil’s Gabriel Medina who took the gold medal in the men’s final, while French surfer Kauli Vaast came in third taking the bronze.
With the athlete’s two best waves counting towards their final scores, the Moroccan surfer scored 15.34, compared to Medina’s 16.40. Medina is a three-time winner of the Championship Tour, the elite circuit for surfers.
In Paris, the sport’s second outing at the Olympic Games after Tokyo, the tournament will include 48 competitors from across the world and will be held from July 27 to August 4 in Tahiti, French Polynesia, on the terrifying Teahupoo wave.