Hot competition in Junior X-Games

PATONG: Today’s ESPN/Junior X-Games semi-finals saw tough competition, especially in the sport climbing – bouldering category. Pipoy Cosculluesia and Tagoy Ledesma from the Philippines, Kim Dae Yaob from South Korea and Michael Foo from Malaysia topped the event, each clearing the two routes on their first try. In the female category of the same event, Shaina Gu from Taiwan and Sophie Irvine from Australia headed the field, also managing to overcome the routes at the first attempt. In the sport climbing – speed category, Michael Foo topped the table, with his rivals in the bouldering competition ranked closely behind. Sophie Irvine also ranked first in the female speed category, making her the favorite to win the female sport climbing events. Takeshi Yatsutoko from Japan appears to be the hot contender for victory in the aggressive in-line skating events after topping both ‘best trick’ and ‘vert’ categories, and placing third in both the ‘slalom’ and ‘street’ categories. Thailand’s Surat Bumrungkij has also done well, placing second in the street and slalom categories, and in the top five in the other two. The hot favorite for the skateboarding competition is Australian Blake Ellis who topped vert, best trick and slalom, and ranked second in the street competition. The top three competitors in in-line, skateboarding and bicycle stunt (still taking place as this report is filed), as well as the top two competitors in sport climbing, go into the head-to-head finals tomorrow.