The Edinburgh Reporter August 2024

20

A cheeky change of sport

THE VOICE OF SPORT [email protected]

WHEN CHAYANK “CHEEKY” GOSAIN
headed out to Australia for a winter playing
cricket with Adelaide’s Goodwood club it was
expected the experience would enable him to
take the final step through the ranks of
Scotland under-17, under-19 and “A” team to a
full international cap.
Instead fate played a hand and put the slow
left arm bowler, from Edinburgh’s Carlton club
and a product of Boroughmuir High School, on
a different sporting course and one which will
see him take up a job as a surfing coach later
this month in, er, Nicaragua.
“Cheeky” said: “I wanted to visit Australia
and play cricket but Covid hit and I found
myself needing to get outside and do
something.
“A club-mate suggested surfing and from the
moment I was hit by my first big wave I was
hooked.
“I wouldn’t thank you for being hit hard by
someone like (Aussie fast bowler) Mitchell
Johnson but surviving a massive wave, wow, it
was exhilarating.”
From that hit onwards cricket took a back
seat – “changing my sporting priorities was
easier than I thought as you have to finish
sometime; I just gave up on international
honours a bit quicker than most.”
“When I returned to the UK to do a Masters
(he already has a degree in electrical engineering)
I found Edinburgh University had a Surf Club
and a job move to Bristol put me in touch with
one of the best inland facilities until the new Lost
Shore Resort is completed at Ratho.”
“Cheeky” was up and running opting out of
mainstream employment to work as a “surf
host” in places like Sri Lanka, Sweden and
Portugal before it was suggested by his boss at
internationally recognised Lapoint Surf Camps
that he travel to Norway to complete coaching

In-house winner at

Lochend Open

Classy Seve

Ballesteros

LOCAL MEMBER Duncan Ireland won the

Lochend Golf Open with a level par score of

67, one shot less than runner-up Leon

McNicol, from Craigielaw.

Duncan has previously won both the

tournament’s scratch and handicap trophies.

He is pictured, right, with Lochend club

president Tam Galloway who made the

presentation.

In his day job Duncan is Golf Operations

Assistant at Duddingston Golf Club.

WHEN EDINBURGH

GOLFING super-fan

and low handicap

player Kenny Reid sat

in the St Andrews

stands watching the

denouement of the

Open Championship in

1984 the day before his

15th birthday, little

could he have known

the occasion would have echoes 40 years on.

But the moment his idol, the late, much

lamented, Seve Ballesteros, stroked in the

winning putt Kenny was set on a journey to

find out more about the swashbuckling

Spaniard, who died in 2011 aged just 54,

particularly why he was so popular and

relatable. Those findings have been set to

print with “Seve Ballesteros’s Touch of Class”.

Kenny said: “I have such a vivid recollection

about watching Seve win the 1984 Open that

I had to get to the nub of why he was so

popular. Seve was the last natural golfer, an

artist, so creative. He wore his heart on his

sleeve. But even his own autobiography had

only three pages on that win at the Old

Course in St Andrews and there have been

four biogs none of which really which really

told me why so many loved him.

Seve Ballesteros’s Touch of Class Pitch

Publishing £

qualifications.

“Any sport I have ever played (he once helped

reduce India’s vaunted under-19’s to 22-5 with a

three wicket haul and at domestic level helped

steer Carlton to a first ever Scottish Cup in 2017

with an unexpectedly defiant innings of 30 for a

bowler) has been competitive.

“Surfing is different; its about challenging

myself and I love it.

“Maybe one day I’ll get what my parents

would call a ‘proper job’ but for the moment

my future is in surfing with the offer of a job

back in Portugal when the dry season ends

in Central America where Nicaragua which

is actually a surfing hot spot” added the

28-year-old who also holds a MSc in

Sustainable Energy Systems.”

Talk above riding a wave...

Scoring high

for Watsonians

CRICKETER OLI HAIRS, pictured by
Graham Gaw in action for his
Watsonian club against local rivals
Carlton, is the holder of the new
Scottish batting record.
Oli scored 255 for Scotland A against
Oman surpassing Iain Philip’s 234
against MCC in 1991.
That was the previous highest score
in a Scotland representative shirt.
The monumental score was
compiled off just 130 deliveries.

Cheeky Gosain

L-R Tam and Duncan

Oli in action