President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom attended the ‎awarding ceremony of the ‘Maldives Open 2014’ surfing championship, held ‎in Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi resort. ‎At the ceremony, President Yameen presented ‎awards to the winners of the ‘Men’s Open’ category. ‎Minister of Tourism Hon. Ahmed Adeeb ‎Abdul Gafoor presented awards for the winners of the ‘Men’s ‎Body Boarding’ category. Awards for the winners of the ‘Women’s ‎Short Boarding’ category were presented by the Minister of Youth and ‎Sports Hon. Mohamed Maleeh Jamal.‎

Maldives Open 2014 was organized by Maldives Body Boarding Association (MBBA) collaborating with the Ministry of Tourism and Asian Surfing Championship (ASC) under a singed MOU for the next 5 years. The Maldives Open 2014 is a Maldives Tourism Ministry funded event with the MBBA and the Maldives Surfing Association (MSA) as co-organizers, and the Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi Resort as the host and a primary sponsor.

Certificates were also presented casinos in Vermont to the participants of the Body Boarding International Officials Judging level 3 judging course which was held by the Association of Professional Body Boarders (APB) where 03 world class judges joined to conduct the course. This was a great opportunity for the locals in Maldives to boost their career in judging too.

A token of appreciation was given to H.E President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Ghafoor by Mr. Matt George, Chief Editor of Surf Time Magazine and Mr. Tim Hain the General Manager of Asian Surfing Championships (ASC) a speech was given by General Manager of ASC Mr.Tim Hain. This is the third international surfing event that took place in the Maldives after O’Neill and Sri Lankan Airlines Pro Surfing Event. The event concluded with a Colorful Maldivian cultural item choreographed by Theatre Mirage.

The event would further put the Maldives as a sought after surfing destination in the global arena.