Insane
26th January 2003, 07:37 PM
Kuala Lumpur, 25 January 2003
There was no way the fans were going to miss this one. Through an hour-long rain delay they waited, and when the Aggressive Inline vert competition finally started again at 10:00pm they were not disappointed. All the inliners dialed it up for big performances but it was the head-to-head competition between the Yasutoko brothers that had the crowd stomping their feet and screaming for more.
Despite being well past their bed times, 9-year-old Takayuki Nakamura and 12-year-old Shuhei Iwata dropped in for impressive runs, linking together solid grinds and awesome spins as they competed with the big boys. It was the sport veterans that provided the big air, however. Sam Fogarty of Austalia put in a first run that set the pace for the Yasutoko brothers to follow and eventually earned him his second consecutive Asian X Games vert bronze. Reigning world champion, Takeshi Yasutoko wowed the crowd with a first run filled with 12-ft airs, triple spins, backside royals, fakie 5s and inverts. But he would have to settle for silver after older brother Eito put in a huge second run, seemlessly linking double flatspins and 1080s. As 19-year-old Eito ended his run with a double backflip 180 twist, the crowd roared and it was obvious that the gold was his.
The Aggressive Inline vert competition capped off a day where over 50,000 spectators crowded into the KLCC site of the Asian X Games v presented by Toyota. Many of those fans were there to see the skateboard park finals. The two Malaysian skaters who were among the ten finalists were clear crowd favorites. It was Austalian Jeff Williams who led the pack out of preliminaries, however, after landing a backside air to backside 540. And he maintained that lead through the finals, all the way to gold. Last year’s champion and fellow Australian, Darren Kaehne, came into the finals in 6th place, but quickly moved to first place after a first run that included a backside 360 and a complete technical run. Afterwards Kaehne said he was happy with his performance which earned him silver.
In the afternoon, Sport Climb's bouldering finals welcomed 15 men and 20 women to the wall for their climb to gold. The women’s final began first and 12 countries were represented. Japan’s famous climber Ogawa Tomoko, who is also a part-time gym instructor, owned the wall with her powerful style and technique, making her way to the top and a first-place finish. Dedication and intense training in France for 6 months, along with her World Cup win, showed during Tomoko's win. Korea’s Kim Hyun-Jung, who led the day’s champion in the semis, fell short a few points in the finals. Her silver-winnnig performance was a clear improvement from her fifth-place finish at last year’s Asian X Games, however.
In the men’s Sport Climb bouldering contest, athletes from 8 different countries competed in the finals. The climbing route set on the wall was challenging enough that no one completed the climb to the top, but not for lack of trying. In the end, the top three spots went to North Asians as Akito Matrushima of Japan grabbed the gold, followed by Koreans Lee Jae-Yong and Son Sang-Won taking silver and bronze respectively.
Out at the Mines Resort and Spa, wakeboarding witnessed an upset as frontliner Kiwi Jeff Wetheral had to settle for the silver with Bunyalo “Lotta” Jumruang from Thailand clinching the gold. Rounding out the top three was Masato Takiwa from Japan who won the bronze medal. Jumruang who won the French Wakeboarding Championship in 2000 had a close race with Wetheral but his riding big won him top spot. “It was a lot of pressure, but I rode big and I’m so happy to win,” said Jumruang. Said Bruce Robson, head judge of the competition from Australia on Jumruang’s performance: “Both Jeff and Lotta scored similarly in the mixture of tricks and in the execution, but Lotta stood out when it came to intensity. He rode bigger and higher and that’s why he’s number one.”
Another event that took place was Bicycle Stunt park preliminaries where 26 riders competed for the 10 spots in Sunday’s final.
There was no way the fans were going to miss this one. Through an hour-long rain delay they waited, and when the Aggressive Inline vert competition finally started again at 10:00pm they were not disappointed. All the inliners dialed it up for big performances but it was the head-to-head competition between the Yasutoko brothers that had the crowd stomping their feet and screaming for more.
Despite being well past their bed times, 9-year-old Takayuki Nakamura and 12-year-old Shuhei Iwata dropped in for impressive runs, linking together solid grinds and awesome spins as they competed with the big boys. It was the sport veterans that provided the big air, however. Sam Fogarty of Austalia put in a first run that set the pace for the Yasutoko brothers to follow and eventually earned him his second consecutive Asian X Games vert bronze. Reigning world champion, Takeshi Yasutoko wowed the crowd with a first run filled with 12-ft airs, triple spins, backside royals, fakie 5s and inverts. But he would have to settle for silver after older brother Eito put in a huge second run, seemlessly linking double flatspins and 1080s. As 19-year-old Eito ended his run with a double backflip 180 twist, the crowd roared and it was obvious that the gold was his.
The Aggressive Inline vert competition capped off a day where over 50,000 spectators crowded into the KLCC site of the Asian X Games v presented by Toyota. Many of those fans were there to see the skateboard park finals. The two Malaysian skaters who were among the ten finalists were clear crowd favorites. It was Austalian Jeff Williams who led the pack out of preliminaries, however, after landing a backside air to backside 540. And he maintained that lead through the finals, all the way to gold. Last year’s champion and fellow Australian, Darren Kaehne, came into the finals in 6th place, but quickly moved to first place after a first run that included a backside 360 and a complete technical run. Afterwards Kaehne said he was happy with his performance which earned him silver.
In the afternoon, Sport Climb's bouldering finals welcomed 15 men and 20 women to the wall for their climb to gold. The women’s final began first and 12 countries were represented. Japan’s famous climber Ogawa Tomoko, who is also a part-time gym instructor, owned the wall with her powerful style and technique, making her way to the top and a first-place finish. Dedication and intense training in France for 6 months, along with her World Cup win, showed during Tomoko's win. Korea’s Kim Hyun-Jung, who led the day’s champion in the semis, fell short a few points in the finals. Her silver-winnnig performance was a clear improvement from her fifth-place finish at last year’s Asian X Games, however.
In the men’s Sport Climb bouldering contest, athletes from 8 different countries competed in the finals. The climbing route set on the wall was challenging enough that no one completed the climb to the top, but not for lack of trying. In the end, the top three spots went to North Asians as Akito Matrushima of Japan grabbed the gold, followed by Koreans Lee Jae-Yong and Son Sang-Won taking silver and bronze respectively.
Out at the Mines Resort and Spa, wakeboarding witnessed an upset as frontliner Kiwi Jeff Wetheral had to settle for the silver with Bunyalo “Lotta” Jumruang from Thailand clinching the gold. Rounding out the top three was Masato Takiwa from Japan who won the bronze medal. Jumruang who won the French Wakeboarding Championship in 2000 had a close race with Wetheral but his riding big won him top spot. “It was a lot of pressure, but I rode big and I’m so happy to win,” said Jumruang. Said Bruce Robson, head judge of the competition from Australia on Jumruang’s performance: “Both Jeff and Lotta scored similarly in the mixture of tricks and in the execution, but Lotta stood out when it came to intensity. He rode bigger and higher and that’s why he’s number one.”
Another event that took place was Bicycle Stunt park preliminaries where 26 riders competed for the 10 spots in Sunday’s final.