In an historic decision, the General Assembly of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) has voted on Tuesday, July 07, in favor of the inclusion of Surfing in the upcoming Pan American Games, scheduled to be held in Lima, Peru, in 2019.

The Assemby was held in Toronto, Canada, just days ahead of the Opening Ceremony of the 2015 Pan American Games in this north american country. Karin Sierralta, President of the Pan American Surfing Association (PASA) was in attendance to this historic meeting.

“It has been a long and hard work”, said President Sierralta. “Just a few weeks ago we achieved to have 18 National Surfing Federations recognized by their respective National Olympic Committees and other four countries sent support letters, which helped in the final decision, and now we will have our beloved sport in the biggest sport scenario of the Americas.”

Sierralta added: “Today is an historic day for Surfing. The sport is now part of the Olympic cycle, and its closer to Tokyo 2020. Our sport will be now a protagonist, and this will be very positive for all the high performance athletes. Also every aspect linked to the sport, like tourism and industry, will also benefit from this achievement.”

I deeply thank Fernando Aguerre (President of the International Surfing Association) for all his passion, Jose Quiñones (President of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, organizer of the 2019 Pan American Games) for believing in Surfing, Carlos Neuhaus, President of FENTA, for his non stop support of Surfing, and all the Surfing Federations of the Americas for their support to PASA.”

42 Nations voted today during this General Assembly.