Surfer Roger Casugay of the Philippines was going for gold at the Southeast Asia (SEA) Games’ Men’s Longboard Open, but he ended up sacrificing a potential win, putting a fellow competitor before himself and averting a crisis.
On Dec. 6, 2019, Casugay was competing against Indonesian surfer Arip Nurhidayat in a qualifying round held in the northern Philippines. Nurhidayat surfed into a spot of trouble; according to the United Philippine Surfing Association, the Indonesian competitor’s surfboard leash snapped and detached itself from his board, leaving Nurhidayat stuck in between ferocious waves.
