RP bets miss medal round in X-Games

PHUKET, Thailand – Filipino sport climbers missed the medal round of bouldering all right but they kept their heads up after showing marked improvement on their performance the last time in the Asian X-Games Qualifier presented by Toyota.

Dennis Oliver Diaz, Simon Sandoval and Lissa Lesaca made it to the semifinal round, submitting better scores than most of the other Southeast Asian campaigners here.

Diaz, a native of Marikina who’s in the construction business, finished 14th in the male competition with a score of 42.53 while Lesaca, a human economics graduate at the UP Los Baños, came in 15th in the female event with a score of 31.52. Both became the second best Southeast Asian performers in their respective events, each one bettered only by an Indonesian rival.

"Certainly, we’re happy with our performance because we’re not expecting to win and just looking to get exposure and gain experience. The fact that we’re only into our fifth year in competition and we’re starting to gain headway among our Southeast Asian rivals is good reason for us to go home happy," said Sandoval, the RP team captain, who himself made a good showing, ending up 18th in the male competition.

RP bets who were out after the preliminary round were junior player Anton Vasquez, Nana Araneta and Jamie Javelosa.

All of the six plus Jeremy Flores will be back in action as the speed climbing gets going Sunday, the same day Mark Steven Schultz makes his bid in bicycle stunt. Schultz, 21, is the first Filipino to join the bicycle stunt competition here.

On a warm, sunny day at the Patong Beach, a tourist haven in this island province 1,200 miles south of Bangkok, Australian, Japanese and Korean extreme athletes as expected dominated the show in practically all the competitions.

A Japan-Korea final marked the end of competition in female bouldering, even as an Australian, an Indonesian and a Taiwanese contested the male bouldering crown with four Koreans.

Koreans Go Mi Sun (female) and Lee Jea Yong (male) went on to win the crowns and the $4,500 cash prize that went with it. They also earned a slot in the World X-Games in Philadelphia next year.

The Aussies stamped their class in wakeboarding over at the Nai Harm Lake with Wayne Mawer and Greg Faizon making a one-two finish. Tahiti’s Rodolphe Vinh-Tung came in third.

Other events on tap here are aggressive in-line skating and skate boarding. However, the Philippines has no entry in both events.

The third Asian X Games Qualifier gathered over 250 athletes from the Asia-Pacific region who compete for money, medals and the coveted slots in the World X Games.