SKATEBOARDING REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS UP IN NOVALICHES
THE Skateboarding and Roller Sports Association of the Philippines Inc. will stage the inaugural Go For Gold Skateboarding Regional Championships next week.
Skateboarding and Roller Sports Association of the Philippines President Monty Mendigoria announced in a press conference on Wednesday that the regional championships would kick off with the Luzon leg on March 23 and 24 at Robinsons Mall in Novaliches.
The best from the Visayas region will show up in Cebu City on April 6 and 7 where Asian Games gold medalist Margielyn Didal is expected to inspire the national team aspirants right in her hometown.
“We feel that Margie and the skateboarding team will become our bright lights in the 2020 Olympics, and hopefully they can bring home our first Olympic gold medal,’’ Go For Gold godfather Jeremy Go said.
The 30th Southeast Asian Games qualifier is
scheduled on August 24 and 25 in Santa Rosa, Laguna, after the most promising skaters from the south take center stage in the Mindanao leg
on May 25 and 26 in General Santos City.
Besides targeting the majority of the eight gold medals at stake in skateboarding in the SEA Games that the Philippines is hosting from November 30 to December 11 in Clark, the national skaters are also training their sights on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
“We will look for the best skaters in the regionals,” Mendigoria said. “The top 3 participants from the regionals will get the chance to prove their worth in the national SEA Games qualifying championship.”
Mendigoria also organized a skateboarding judges seminar and accreditation examination where 12 new judges and referees were accredited under the tutelage of Asian Extreme Sports Federation technical director Warren Stuart.
Skateboarding in the Philippines catapulted to instant fame when the 19-year-old Didal won the gold medal in the Asian Games last year in Indonesia. Didal is now busy preparing for a series of Olympic qualifying tournaments that will bring her to Tokyo.