Surf's up for successful Olympic debut in Tokyo

FILE PHOTO: A woman is silhouetted against a monitor showing Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics emblems during the Olympic and Paralympic flag-raising ceremony at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo, Japan, September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

REUTERS - The International Surfing Association is confident the sport's Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games will be a success despite some minor concerns over conditions, ISA president Fernando Aguerre said on Wednesday.

The surfing competition will take place from July 24 and Aug. 9 at Ichinomiya's Tsurigasaki Beach instead of on artificial waves, leading to the fears that waves in the summer months may not be sufficient for the competition.

Aguerre, however, believes advanced weather forecasts will help the ISA organise the competition efficiently.

"We have a 10-year history of the place -- the surfing direction, size, swirl, wind, everything, so we're not surprised about how it's going to be," Aguerre told insidethegames.biz, a sports website focused on the Olympic Movement.

"The technology right now allows us 72 hours of forecast ahead of time of how the waves are going to be. We need two eight-hour days to run the competition so I think it's very, very positive."

Surfing is one of five new sports approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Tokyo, along with skateboarding, karate, sports climbing and baseball/softball, which returns after being dropped following the 2008 Olympics.

(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru)