Tbh, i am not sure what is that competition. If I remember well from 2019, it was like a nations torunament, there were few nations selected, and some of their individuals competed again... like the dispute among the surfers, but only representing the country.
But it is so irrelevant that I think they decided to not organize this event in El Salvador. Maybe the pandemic had an impact on this decision.
Yeah, ISA Games was, and still is, considered an amateur event among the member of surfing world... because there is WSL and it is the actual "Worlds".
It was used to be an event to surfers who are starting their carrers.
When surfing get in to the Olympics, ISA put a mandatory rule that all surfers should participate at it, and then allowed the surfers from WSL to qualify to Oympics.
So, countries like USA, France(mens side), Australia and Brazil really didn't take the competition seriously. It was a surprise for me that French and Australian team didnt give up as Brazil and almost all female team of USA did. The pandemic also collaborated to surfers take that decision.