Peruvian longboarder Matías Maturano, South American vice-champion of the discipline and qualified for the first division of world longboarding, is not competing in the US Open because he was denied a visa, he said on social media.

Maturano explained that he was not initially informed of the reason and that he requested an emergency meeting but was denied.

“Despite all my efforts, having everything in order and up to date, even asking for it twice, it has not been granted to me, thus denying me the possibility of traveling,” says Maturano speaking to the camera.

“That’s how things are sometimes (…) I am still invited to the events in Australia and El Salvador, which is very exciting and motivating. Now my goal is to work to get the visa for the event in Bells Beach. I feel sad and helpless for not being able to be at the first date, but I am not going to give up. I know there are challenges along the way, but my passion for surfing and the support of all of you give me the strength to keep going,” Maturano concludes.

Maturano finished the regional longboard tour tied with world champion Piccolo Clemente and in the tiebreaker he finished second, earning the classification.

See this post on Instagram

A post shared by Matias Maturano (@matu_maturano)