By Aanya Wipulasena

The trick is to stay calm. Let the water run through your fingers and connect with the ocean.

Out in the surf off the fishing village of Kadabeddagama on the southern coast of Sri Lanka is 22-year-old Senuri Madushani, one of few female surfers from the island nation and the first to compete against the best in the world.

On an island where surfing has long been dominated by men and tourists, Senuri is claiming her space in the water, hoping more girls will follow.

“Out there, it’s a whole different world. When people watch you surf, you show off your turns, it feels amazing,” she said.

Last year was a breakthrough, as Madushani competed in the Asian Surfing Championship held in the Maldives – the first woman from Sri Lanka to compete internationally.

“Oh my god! That was crazy,” she said.

Overwhelmed, she said her legs shook when she first tried to stand up on her board. She fell straight into the water.

After eventually finding her feet, she said being there in the Maldives with her male peers was a dream come true in itself.

Senuri’s achievements include representing Sri Lanka at the Asian Surfing Championships and making it to the semi finals for Red Bull’s Ride My Wave. She also secured second and third place respectively at the National Women’s and Open Women’s competitions in 2024 and 2025. She is now Sri Lanka’s second ever certified female surf instructor.

Her surfing safari began when she was 14.

“I used to watch tourists surfing. When they took a break, I’d ask if I could borrow their boards to give it a try. We couldn’t afford a board.”

She even got discarded broken boards from local repair shops, trying to balance on the halves. “We could barely paddle on them.”

A turning point came when a young Australian surfer called Lily left her a board with a note encouraging her to keep riding.

Senuri’s father, Sisira Kumara, a fisherman and a surfer himself, was against his daughter surfing, insisting it was a man’s sport and not a place for a girl.

With poverty and the weight of a loan taken to repair their home after the 2004 tsunami still looming over the family, he had hoped Senuri would get a government job, marry, and settle down.

But now he supports her, teaching her the ways of the sea. About the spots that are too dangerous to swim in, and which to avoid.

“Surfers like Senuri are really important because they show what is possible when talent is given a pathway,’’ says Oshi Herat, secretary of the Surfing Federation of Sri Lanka.

“On top of that, Senuri has already marked a milestone by becoming the first female surfer to represent Sri Lanka in international waters, and that is something historic for our sport and for our country.”

She said stories like Senuri’s inspire the next generation, “especially young girls, to believe that they too can step into the ocean and make something of it”.

In Kadabeddagama, at dawn, before the sun turns harsh, Senuri heads to the water, accompanied by her pet dogs Clio, Snobby, Dogy, Pusa and Suddha.

There’s no time to linger; she’s training for the next international competition, the 2026 Asian Games.  (ABC)

https://www.abc.net.au/asia/sri-lanka-first-female-surfer-senuri-madushani-career/105888760