Ali Thameem
Maldives national surfing team coach Ibrahim Areef, or “Iboo” as most surfers call him, says he is disappointed with both the previous and the incumbent Maldives governments for not investing enough in surfing.
He made these comments after the Asian Surfing Championship 2025, which just ended in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India.
Speaking to Sidibari at the beachside venue of the competition, Iboo talked about how difficult it was for the Maldives Surfing Association (MSA) to bring the team to compete this year. He said the association had faced “a lot of financial hurdles” and that right up until the final days before the event, they were unsure if the national team could actually afford to travel to India at all.
It’s not like Maldives hasn’t been involved in the ASC before. In fact, we hosted the event in both 2023 and 2024 – something that used up almost all the funds the association had saved over years, says Iboo. “The association injected almost all of the money raised over the preceding years into hosting,” he said. While the Maldives did get podium finishes at both home editions, this year’s preparations were much harder.
According to Iboo, one of the main reasons the team could not perform as well this time was the lack of training together before the championship. “We were not able to give the national athletes any training,” he admitted. “I myself stepped up and trained the juniors… but I got no chance to train the seniors.”
Many of the senior surfers live outside Malé, and for them to train together, MSA has to cover the costs of travel, food, and accommodation. With the association now running low on funds, these camps didn’t happen. The only times the whole team was able to train together as a group were during the sessions held at the Mahabs point break just for couple of days before the championship kicked off.
He wanted to make something clear: surfing is not the kind of sport that eats up giant budgets. “We are not in a sport that requires big infrastructure spending,” he said. “We do not demand constructing huge stadiums. We have been given these natural ‘stadiums’ the surfing spots. All I am asking is to conserve these spots.”
Conservation is something he spoke about with great enthusiasm. He says urban development has already destroyed many good waves in the Maldives, some to the point of extinction.
And then there’s tourism. Surfing, he reminded, is part of the biggest industry in the country. “There are tourists who plan their trips to Maldives just for the sake of surfing,” he said. “Since there is a proportion of tourism revenue generated by surfing, I think it is incumbent on the government administration at a given time to invest a little more in this sport.”
Iboo wanted to make it clear that what he was saying was not about politics. “Most of my life is being spent on this sport. First, as a competitor. Now that I have retired, all I want to do is to take the up-and-coming kids further than I was able to reach.”
For those who don’t know him, Iboo is widely regarded as the most decorated surfer in Maldivian history, with eight National Surfing titles. He also won two bronze medals at the Asian Surfing Championships, the first in 2019 and the second in 2023 when the event was held in the Maldives. He retired from competitive surfing in March last year, having won the latest Dhivehi Surf League title, saying he wanted to focus on coaching and developing the next generation.
But coaching hasn’t been easy. He says both the previous and the current governments have a hand in the situation MSA is facing today. He claims the government promised to refund the expenses the association bore when hosting the ASC. But the money has still not been paid. “To this day, the association is working to catch up with that… the unpaid money that we were promised to receive.”
He said that not so long ago, MSA had enough money to send surfers to compete internationally, run proper training camps, and organize extra development programmes. “Right now, we are at our lowest in half a decade,” he said.
Even so, this year’s championship still brought some memorable moments. The Maldives team secured two more slots for the Asian Games 2026, which will be the biggest multi-sport event in the continent. This adds to the two slots earned in Thulusdhoo last year. In Mahabalipuram, junior surfers Yasin and Kayan Zaki reached the quarterfinals, placing among the top eight junior surfers in Asia. The junior team went on to win the copper medal (fourth place) in the junior category.
“It breaks my heart to see a sport that I love struggle this much,” Iboo said. “It has come to a point of despair, but I still have not given up.” He promised to keep working with the youngsters and ended the interview with a plea to the government, and whoever comes next, to give surfing and the surfing association the support needed to step up their game and reach new heights.
