Insane
29th January 2003, 09:26 AM
Kuala Lumpur, 26 January 2003
Over 56,000 spectators took in huge performances on the rock climbing wall and park course for the final day of the Asian X Games V presented by Toyota.
Bicycle Stunt park finals got things started. After last night’s preliminaries, everyone had their eyes on the Australian duo of Colin Mackay and Steve McCann. Mackay, who clinched a first seed going into the finals, let nerves get the best of him in his first run, however, and he found himself in 8th place. Second run for Mackay was a different story. He gave all he had to pull off a gold winning run. “My aim was to win an X Games IX spot here in Asia, so I am happy about that,” Mackay said of his win. “I do hate it for some of these riders who don’t have parks so accessible to them to train. I hope that more parks open in Asia.” The silver belonged to Japan’s Kenji Tsuruta who was the first rider to land a 360 over the volcano during the finals. Australian Ryan Guettler pulled off everything he tried in the finals and rode away with the bronze.
Aggressive In-line Skating on the park course had a busy day today, as both the preliminaries and the finals were held this afternoon. After a small rain delay, 32 skaters on the park course for prelims got cut down to nine headed to the finals. The famous Yasutoko brothers from Japan made the cut as well as inliners from Australia, Thailand, Singpore and Korea.
The pressure was on in the finals as each athlete skated two runs with the score from the best run counting. In the end, Australia went one and two as Sam Fogarty and Ian Brown took gold and silver. In Fogarty’s case, the best run rule worked in his favor today. After a challenging first run, Fogarty came back with a technical second run to win. Thailand’s Jeerasak Tassorn gave two consistent runs, which included fast tricks and 540s over the box jump, to take the third spot on the podium.
Over on the vert ramp, Skateboarding saw two skaters hold on to their top preliminary rankings into the finals and onto the podium. Renton Millar and Trevor Ward, both of Australia, kept the lead through the finals with Millar staying on his board the whole 45 seconds of his run while performing frontside and backside airs, backside kick flips, tailslides and fakies to the enthusiastic roar of the Malaysian crowd. After the prize presentation, Millar said, "It feels good to be in KL. I’ve had a great time. The great skateboarding and the appreciative crowd... I was really stoked." Rounding out the Australian invasion of the skateboard vert competition was Corbin Harris who claimed bronze. There were eight Aussies who made it to the finals, with four Japanese skateboaders and a lone Kiwi rounding out the top 13.
At the climbing wall, the Indonesians continued their dominance in Sport Climbing speed competition. In the women’s category, there were no surprises with all three medals going to Indonesians. Three-time gold medallist at the Asian X Games and last year’s third place winner at the Summer X Games VIII in Philadelphia Etti Hendrawati bagged gold again and a chance to compete in LA. Yuyun Yuniar abd Evi Neliwati won silver and bronze respectively for the second consecutive year. Etti Hendrawati said of her win: "I’m happy to win and I will try harder to win at Summer X Games."
The men’s division was also topped by an Indonesian, Toni Firmansyah who clinched gold for the second time at the Asian X Games and made it to the history books with a new world record of 6.84 seconds up the 14-meter wall. Newcomer Lai Chi Wai from Hong Kong came in second with Singapore’s Mohd Halil B. Ngah winning bronze also for the second time.
As the Asian X Games V presented by Toyota came to a close, everyone agreed that it was, without question, the biggest and best Asian X Games to date.
Over 56,000 spectators took in huge performances on the rock climbing wall and park course for the final day of the Asian X Games V presented by Toyota.
Bicycle Stunt park finals got things started. After last night’s preliminaries, everyone had their eyes on the Australian duo of Colin Mackay and Steve McCann. Mackay, who clinched a first seed going into the finals, let nerves get the best of him in his first run, however, and he found himself in 8th place. Second run for Mackay was a different story. He gave all he had to pull off a gold winning run. “My aim was to win an X Games IX spot here in Asia, so I am happy about that,” Mackay said of his win. “I do hate it for some of these riders who don’t have parks so accessible to them to train. I hope that more parks open in Asia.” The silver belonged to Japan’s Kenji Tsuruta who was the first rider to land a 360 over the volcano during the finals. Australian Ryan Guettler pulled off everything he tried in the finals and rode away with the bronze.
Aggressive In-line Skating on the park course had a busy day today, as both the preliminaries and the finals were held this afternoon. After a small rain delay, 32 skaters on the park course for prelims got cut down to nine headed to the finals. The famous Yasutoko brothers from Japan made the cut as well as inliners from Australia, Thailand, Singpore and Korea.
The pressure was on in the finals as each athlete skated two runs with the score from the best run counting. In the end, Australia went one and two as Sam Fogarty and Ian Brown took gold and silver. In Fogarty’s case, the best run rule worked in his favor today. After a challenging first run, Fogarty came back with a technical second run to win. Thailand’s Jeerasak Tassorn gave two consistent runs, which included fast tricks and 540s over the box jump, to take the third spot on the podium.
Over on the vert ramp, Skateboarding saw two skaters hold on to their top preliminary rankings into the finals and onto the podium. Renton Millar and Trevor Ward, both of Australia, kept the lead through the finals with Millar staying on his board the whole 45 seconds of his run while performing frontside and backside airs, backside kick flips, tailslides and fakies to the enthusiastic roar of the Malaysian crowd. After the prize presentation, Millar said, "It feels good to be in KL. I’ve had a great time. The great skateboarding and the appreciative crowd... I was really stoked." Rounding out the Australian invasion of the skateboard vert competition was Corbin Harris who claimed bronze. There were eight Aussies who made it to the finals, with four Japanese skateboaders and a lone Kiwi rounding out the top 13.
At the climbing wall, the Indonesians continued their dominance in Sport Climbing speed competition. In the women’s category, there were no surprises with all three medals going to Indonesians. Three-time gold medallist at the Asian X Games and last year’s third place winner at the Summer X Games VIII in Philadelphia Etti Hendrawati bagged gold again and a chance to compete in LA. Yuyun Yuniar abd Evi Neliwati won silver and bronze respectively for the second consecutive year. Etti Hendrawati said of her win: "I’m happy to win and I will try harder to win at Summer X Games."
The men’s division was also topped by an Indonesian, Toni Firmansyah who clinched gold for the second time at the Asian X Games and made it to the history books with a new world record of 6.84 seconds up the 14-meter wall. Newcomer Lai Chi Wai from Hong Kong came in second with Singapore’s Mohd Halil B. Ngah winning bronze also for the second time.
As the Asian X Games V presented by Toyota came to a close, everyone agreed that it was, without question, the biggest and best Asian X Games to date.