RI climbers reach Asian X Games finals

PHUKET, Thailand (JP): Indonesia's Ronald Mamarimbing and Yuyun Yuniar have reached the final of the wall climbing difficulty event in the Asian X Games.

Ronald and Yuyun finished seventh in their respective men's and women's semifinals yesterday, behind Japanese, Korean and Hong Kong rivals.

Bondan Kartiko and Etha Hendrawati, the other Indonesian representatives in the event, failed to make it into today's final, but both finished in the top 10.

Indonesian team manager Hendricus Mutter told The Jakarta Post that he was delighted to see four Indonesians finish among the top 10.

"It is more important for the team to finish in the top 10, because that will earn us a cash prize which we need to finance our travel home," he said.

Hendricus, who chairs the Indonesian Climbing Federation, said that Japanese and South Korean athletes were always Indonesia's toughest rivals.

Participants will compete in a speed climbing event tomorrow.

The six-person Indonesian team arrived here on Tuesday after a 25 hour-drive from Singapore. They traveled to Phuket by land to save money.

They flew from Jakarta to Batam on April 18, then took a ferry to Singapore, before beginning the arduous land leg of their journey.

The Asian X Games, which serves as a qualifying event for the Summer X Games to be held in June in the USA, also features skate boarding, in-line skating, a bicycle stunt event and wake boarding.

Bandung athletes Nirwanto Arief Budiman, Adhymas Haryo Agung, Arkis Tanos, and Fani Krismandar will represent Indonesia in the skate boarding contest. (cst)