Zafar masters Hawaiian waters

Zafar Alam of Cox's Bazar became sixth amongst 130 international surfers at the International Freedom Surfing Contest that was held recently in the island state of Hawaii in the USA.
He was awarded with a trophy by the Governor of Hawaii Dukaiyana. President of international surfing organisation "Surfing the nation" Tom Bauer introduced Zafar as the first Bangladeshi surfer to the cheering crowd.
Zafar asked the other competitors to come to Bangladesh to take part in the upcoming 4th surfing competition to be held in Cox's Bazar in October and enjoy the hospitality of the Bangladeshi people.
There have been news reports on Zafar and his surfing in various newspapers of the USA.
Zafar said all these while talking to this reporter upon returning home after three months of surfing in Hawaii and Bali of Indonesia.
Zafar left home for Hawaii on 26th of April where he was involved in two months of practice before taking part in the original competition where he eventually came sixth. He also participated in various training programmes on how to save drowning people in the sea.
After surfing for two months in Hawaii, Zafar went to Bali in Indonesia where he was joined by two of his proteges Abdul Aziz and Shahadat Hossain who are members of the organisation called "Surfing Bangladesh" set up by Zafar to popularise the sport in Bangladesh.
After a month-long training in Bali, the three surfers returned to Bangladesh on the 4th of August only to find themselves being harassed by the local customs officials who seized their surfboards calling the equipment as illegal. This incident has left them without any equipment to surf.