Pinoys ready to go to X-tremes

PHUKET, Thailand — They have a tough act to follow from their junior counterparts but the Philippine senior extreme athletes are hopeful they can buck overwhelming odds and also win honors for the country as the 2000 Asian X Games Qualifier presented by Toyota unfolds here this weekend.

Veteran campaigners Simon Sandoval and Anna Cristina Araneta, both sport climbers, lead the nine-strong RP delegation in the third staging of the spectacle which once again gathers the cream of X-athletes in the Asia-Pacific region all seeking to gain berth in the ESPN’s Summer X Games.

Rider Jovi Schultz and sport climbers Dennis Oliver Diaz, Jamie Javelosa, Amy Mallari, Lissa Aireen Lesaca and Iva Ybanez also carry the national colors in the 19-nation event which is expected to attract a crowd of over 30,000 in the venue and millions of television viewers through ESPN STAR Sports.

The Philippines entered six bets in the Disney Channel-ESPN Junior X Games II last weekend and reaped two gold medals through Tagoy Ledesma and Andrew Severino in sport climbing.

Now, the RP senior X athletes are hoping they can stoke the fire of those victories, promising to give their best to win the country’s first medal in the games.

Sandoval and Araneta, both 28, competed in last year’s qualifier but missed the medal round.

There’s no question, though, that it’s tough to make it to the medal round of the games which also feature X-athletes from Bhutan, China, Cambodia, Guam, South Korea, Laos, Macau, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam.

Asians may have taken extreme sports nearly a decade after their US counterparts but they have gone far as seen in the triumph of Indonesian Etti Hendrawati (women’s sport climbing) and Japanese brothers Eito and Takeshi Yasutoko (aggressive in-line skating) in last year’s ESPN’s Games.

ESPN staged its first Asian X Games Qualifier only three years ago but the event has quickly become the ultimate goal for Asia’s extreme athletes.

"It’s been three years since we kicked off the first AXQ and as these sports grow in popularity we are continuing to improve and expand the premiere event in the region. Everywhere you look, there’s a new skate park under construction. It’s great to see communities and the press recognizing extreme sports and giving tremendous athletes the recognition they deserve. After all, this is the future of sports," said ESPN STAR Sport event management group vice president Richard Young.

Young added that the ESPN’s X Games has begun to spread its shadow across new ground through a series of new initiatives.