possessive pronoun "its"

[sudaif]

Originally developed by ancient Hawaiians, surfing appeals to people due to the sport’s unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops among people in their common quest to conquer nature.

B) surfing’s appeal is its unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops

MGMAT Explanation:
(B) The introductory modifying phrase "originally developed by ancient Hawaiians" incorrectly describes "surfing’s appeal" rather than surfing itself. Additionally, the pronoun "its" has no clear antecedent to refer to.

Since, "its" is a possessive pronoun, shouldn't it be okay to use it with the possessive "surfing's appeal" and have it logically refer back to "surfing"?

[tim]

it is precisely the issue you bring up that makes the pronoun ambiguous, as "its" can refer to either surfing or to the appeal - thus no clear antecedent. If we were to use an otherwise-valid "it" at that point in the sentence, it could refer only to the appeal because it could not validly refer to surfing..