Shultz, Yangco top ESPN Asian XTour Manila leg

Mark Steven Shultz bested a banner field of 148 to rule the bicycle stunts (park) category while Rogelio Yangco nipped Noel Coscedo for the aggressive-inline skating crown in the Main X division of the ESPN Asian XTour Manila Sunday.

Shultz wowed the crowd and gained the nod of the judges with his breathtaking stunts, winning the gold in the premier event with an average score of 86 to lead the cast in the Asian X Games Qualifier IV in Malaysia next year. He beat Jorge Baquir, who had 84.75 for silver while Laurence Davila settled for bronze.

In the aggressive-inline skating category of Main X, Yangco nipped Coscedo by the slimmest of margin, 1.5 points, as the former put in a solid 230 average score. Coscedo settled for second while Benjie Estanislao took third place honors with 210.5 points.

Luigi Alamazong led the winners in the Junior X division, ruling the bicycle stunts (park) with an impressive average score of 230, highlighted by a spectacular backflip that drew cheers from the crowd which braved heavy rains to watch the event at the Goldcrest Parking Center at the Glorietta Mall in Makati.

Winners in the Junior X aggressive-inline skating divison are Ricardo Malabag (first), Justin Bugasto (second) and Syedfrey Sanchez (third).

Other events on tap both in the Main X and Junior X divisions were skateboarding and bicycle stunt (flatland).

A record 429 competitors joined the event, presented by Toyota with official partner Toshiba and sponsored by Polaroid, Milo and Ayala Center.

The top three placers in both the Junior X and Main X divisions thus qualified to the Malaysian Qualifier presented by Toyota slated January 2002. Qualifiers in this event will then advance to the 2002 Summer X Games, which offers a total cash prize of $100,000, slated Aug. 12-25 in Philadelphia.

The Manila event, sponsored by Toyota and supported by Toshiba and Polaroid, served as the fifth leg of a six-stage Asian XTour which kicked off in Shanghai last May. Bangkok hosted the second leg in June then Taipei in August and Kuala Lumpur last month. The final leg will be held in Singapore in December.

First staged in 1995, the X Games features the world’s leading action athletes and has since earned the reputation as the ultimate event in action sports competitions. The Asian edition debuted in 1998 and has remained as the region’s premier action sports competition.

ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports, will televise the Asian events to more than 140 countries and territories around the globe.