Eight Asia-pacific countries join Jakarta X-rage c'ships<\/p>\n
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Eight Asia-Pacific countries are set to join the Phillips X-
\nRage, an extreme sports competition that begins in Jakarta on
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
The three-day competition will take place at the eastern
\nSenayan parking lot and feature 67 athletes from Singapore,
\nMalaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, China
\nand Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The competition will be bolstered by the involvement of
\nprofessional extreme athletes from Japan and Australia, who will
\npresent a skills demonstration.<\/p>\n
Jakarta first hosted such an event last year, but it was then
\nrestricted to local athletes.<\/p>\n
\"We are aiming at gathering them together so that they can
\ngauge their standard compared to other participants,\" Danny Chan,
\nfrom event organizer IMG, said about the new policy of bringing
\nthe region's national champions into the finals.<\/p>\n
\"If they compete only inside the country, their playing
\nstandard will be limited,\" he said after a press conference on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
The organizers, under the sponsorship of Netherlands-based
\nelectronics company Phillips, are offering an American tour
\npackage to the winners, who will be given a one-week trip to
\nWoodward Camp, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, a summer camp for
\nextreme sports lovers.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta X-Rage championship will feature skateboard, BMX
\nbike and inline skating (roller blading) competitions, each
\ndivided into junior and senior categories.<\/p>\n
Fielding six athletes, host Indonesia will take part in only
\ntwo of the competitions. The six were winners at the national
\nchampionships in Surabaya, East Java, last October.<\/p>\n
Indra Kubon, Adymas and Mario Palandeng will compete in the
\nskateboard competition, while Ardy Polii, Apep and Chandra
\nPurnamawan will join the BMX event.<\/p>\n
\"Good inline skaters are still scarce here. It's not popular
\nyet,\" Didi Arifin, tournament director from the Indonesian
\nSkateboarding Association, told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Assessing the Indonesians' chances against their foreign
\nrivals, Didi said they were pinning their hopes on juniors Mario
\nand Chandra.<\/p>\n
\"There will be stiff competition in the senior skateboard
\nevent with all the participating countries having almost equal
\nchances. But in the junior competition, we may have a bigger
\nchance in Mario,\" Didi.<\/p>\n
In the BMX senior division, Didi predicted Taiwan would
\ndominate. \"If Ardy Polii could just take a place in the top
\nthree, it would be a spectacular achievement, but in the junior
\ndivision I believe Chandra Purnamawan could win it,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Bandung-based Chandra chalked up a career best
\ninternational performance when he won a gold and silver at the
\n2000 ESPN Asian X-games in Phuket, Thailand.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/eight-asia-pacific-countries-join-jakarta-x-rage-cships-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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