Chennai, Aug 17 (PTI) The sixth edition of the 'Covelong Surfing Festival' got underway today in the presence of former India tennis player Somdev Devvarman and South African cricket great Jonty Rhodes.

The three-day extravaganza is one of the premier surfing competitions in the country and sanctioned by the Surfing Federation of India.

Both Rhodes and Devvarman are avid surfers and were seen surfing around post the competition came to a close on Day 1.

The opening day of the championship got underway with the preliminary rounds for the Novice (2 & under), Groms (16 & Under), Junior (17-22 Yrs) & Senior (23-30 Yrs) categories respectively.

The competitive preliminary rounds for the Masters (31 & above), Women's (all ages) and the Open (Foreign Nationals) categories will take place tomorrow.

Surfers from across all the categories were given 15 minutes each to compete under testing conditions in the sea.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)