Kitesurfing, a hybrid sport mixing the techniques of kiting and wakeboarding, is considered the world’s fastest growing extreme sport and it is quickly gaining ground in Libya where it draws foreigners and locals alike.

It was expected to debut as an Olympic sport in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro games, but the decision was overturned last month by the International Sailing Federation which opted to keep windsurfing at the price of kitesurfing which is also known as kiteboarding.

Watersports in Libya, a Mediterranean country boasting a 1,770-kilometre coastline (1,106 miles) and almost 365 days of sunshine, were woefully underdeveloped during the Kadhafi regime, although there was a sailing federation in place.

“The government didn’t give a chance to watersports,” said Khaled Etaleb, a heart surgeon who learned kiteboarding in neighbouring Tunisia because there were no training facilities in his own country.

“Extreme, individual, luxury sports were not accepted,” he added, stressing that the few clubs that existed in Libya were monopolised by those with ties to Kadhafi and his clan rather than passionate practitioners.

One of the greatest challenges during the previous regime, recalled the 41-year-old father of two, was importing the equipment and finding a windy spot to ride the waves in peace, without attracting security services.