CEBUANA WINS GOLD IN SKATEBOARDING
Margielyn Didal delivers the country’s fourth gold medal after ruling skateboarding in the Asian Games
Most see skateboarders as delinquents on the streets and the extreme sport of skateboarding has never been really accepted by the mainstream public, thus the lack of support.
That may be about to change. Cebuana skateboarder Margielyn Didal gave the Philippines its fourth gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Pelambeng, Indonesia yesterday.
Didal topped seven other skateboarders in the women’s street skateboard event in the JSC Skateboard Stadium, scoring 30.4 to beat Japanese Isa Kaya by a huge margin for the gold medal. Kaya scored 25.0, while hometown bet Nyimas Bunga scored 19.8.
The 19-year-old Didal scored 14.2 in her first two runs and scored as high as 8.9.
Didal, a daughter of a kwekkwek vendor here in Cebu, could earn as much as P6 million for her gold medal finish. Aside from that, Didal could now be a shoo-in for the 2020 Olympics, when skateboarding will make its debut with street and park disciplines on the schedule. The street courses include stairs, rails, ramps and lots of concrete. The park competition is staged in a bowl.
Like other sports, including snowboarding and freestyle skiing in the Winter Olympics, skateboarders are judged on elements including speed, degree of difficulty and clean landings in their routines and tricks.
The two other Filipino skateboarders Renzo Mark Feliciano and Jeffrey Gonzalez failed to qualify in the finals of the men’s street event.
The other three gold medals from the Philippines are also from women athletes: Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting, and Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go in golf. Saso also won the women’s individual event in golf.
The Philippines also had another medal from Pencak Silat after Almohaidib Abad bagged a bronze medal after finishing third with a score of 455 in the Men’s single final.
Meanwhile, Carlo Paalam assured the Philippines of another bronze medal in boxing with a convincing 4-1 decision win over Kazakhstan’s Termitas Zhussopov in the light flyweight division.
Judges 1, 4 and 5 scored it 30-27, while Judge 2 scored it 29-28 for the 20-year-old Paalam. Judge 3 had it 29-28 for the 30-year-old Zhussupov.
Paalam will take on India’s Amit in the semifinals on Friday night. /