Surf clothing brand Vissla has extended its presenting sponsorship deal with the International Surfing Association’s World Adaptive Surfing Championship para-surfing event.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it was confirmed that the deal will cover the 2017 edition of the event, which takes place from November 29 until December 3 in Jolla, California, in the US.
Vissla began its support of the competition last year and has also served as the title sponsor of the ISA’s World Junior Surfing Championship for the past four years.
Confirmation of the deal comes as the ISA also announced that the 2017 World Adaptive Surfing Championship will feature women’s divisions for the first time, as the sport’s global governing pushes for greater gender equality in professional surfing.
The championship had previously featured a mixed gender division, but will this year include dedicated female contests. As a result, more than double the amount of women surfers will take part in this year’s event.
The 2017 World Adaptive Surfing Championship will be the first edition of the contest since the ISA gained accreditation from the International Paralympic, as the organisation continues its push for para-surfing to feature at the Paralympic Games in the future.
The ISA is seeking to replicate the success of surfing, which will make its debut at the 2020 summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, after it was awarded entry to the sporting spectacle by the International Olympic Committee in August 2016.