Ali Thameem
Aamin Umar Moosa has been crowned Men’s Open champion at the 7th Burunu Shikaaru finals held yesterday.
Defeating Ali Khushruwan – the five-time champion of Burunu Shikaaru – by just 0.26 points in the final, Aamin scored the highest in his fourth (8.33 pts) and fifth (5.43) waves, earning a total of 13.76 points.
Aamin qualified for the final after a whopping 16.33 points in the semifinal against Ali Javed earlier yesterday – Aamin’s fifth wave in the semis was a perfect 10.
This was Aamin’s first time winning the men’s open category of Burunu Shikaaru; he had previously won the junior open back in 2023.
The junior category final of Burunu Shikaaru featured two of the most promising bodyboarders in Maldives; Eyan Ahmed and Mohamed Azaan Ahmed.
Eyan, the sixteen-year-old who made history last November after winning the Men’s Open in Ban’du Filaa Challenge, secured the Junior title in this Burunu Shikaaru with a 13.0 score in the final. His best waves were the first and the sixth, scoring 6.5 points in each.
Eyan qualified for the junior finals having won against Nooh Ahmed Dhunaim Irshad in the semifinals – Eyan had scored 9.83 versus Nooh’s 5.83.
Junior runner-up Azaan made it to this final by defeating Mohamed Libaan in the semis. Azaan is the defending champion in the Ban’du Filaa Challenge junior category.
In addition to the men’s open and junior open, the drop-knee category was also held simultaneously. As per usual, the drop-knee category was dominated by Ali Khushruwan, won won the final (11.0) against Aamin (4.67) in the final held Wednesday evening. This year marks the seventh in Ayya’s streak of winning drop-knee in the event – no one else had claimed the crown from him since the inception of the tournament.
Burunu Shikaaru is the first of the three challenges in the annual Bodyboarding League of Maldives. This year’s Burunu Shikaaru featured 23 bodyboarders across three categories.
The second challenge of the league will take place in Fuvahmulah City in August. The league will return to Varunulaa Raalhugan’du for its final event – National Ban’du Filaa Challenge – in September.
