California Dreaming: Para Surf Hopefuls Eye Los Angeles Olympics

Pismo Beach, United States, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Dec, 2022 ) :Under perfect California skies, Liv Stone elegantly flips her board into the hollow of a wave, perfectly executing the kind of move this disabled surfer would love to replicate at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.

Participating in the four-yearly festival of global sport would be a "dream come true," the 19-year-old says on the sidelines of the World Para Surfing Championship, where this week she is chasing a third title.

Born with truncated arms and under-developed hands, Stone says she fell in love with surfing in 2017, and thinks others would get to know the beauty of the sport if it were added into the Paralympics roster for 2028.

"I feel like I'm like a part of something bigger, and I don't feel discriminated against out there in the water," she tells.

"That's what me and everyone else here that's competing have in common is we all have disabilities... and we feel one in the ocean, and it makes us feel at home."Surfing burst onto the Olympic Calendar at the last Games in Tokyo in 2021.

It will also feature when Paris hosts in 2024 -- though the competition will take place 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) away in Tahiti.