'Perfect 10' for Brunei skater in Singapore

IN-LINE skater Mohd Shopian Mat Said surprised even himself by qualifying for the final of the inaugural Singapore Extreme Championship in Singapore yesterday.

A 15-year veteran of the sport, Mohd Shopian is now aiming for a top five finish after squeezing into the final as the 10th best skater with a result of 67.83 in yesterday's heat at the S$8 million Xtreme SkatePark @ East Coast.

Md Samsul Mohamed was agonisingly close to joining Mohd Shopian in the final after finishing 11th in the field of 21 competitors with a result of 67.00 after two runs yesterday.

Only the Top 10 competitors qualified for the final.

"This is some surprisingly good news because I did not expect to make it to the final," said Mohd Shopian when contacted yesterday.

"Finishing 10th and 11th, I think this is Brunei's best achievement in an extreme sports event ever.

"We have competed in overseas tournaments in the past but this is definitely our best result by far.

"My aim now is to finish in the top half, though a trip to the podium would be even better," added the 26-year-old skater.

A third in-line skater, Bahrumnuddin Hj Jaili, wanted to join the event as well but the Bruneian missed the deadline for registration by mere hours.

Mohd Shopian will pocket S$300 just for making it to the final, with the top five finalists set to receive more prize money.

The final is slated for 11am.

Aggressive in-line skating, BMX freestyling and skateboarding are the three extreme sports being contested at the tournament, and about 80 participants from Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines are competing in the two-day event.

Though the Sultanate was not represented in the BMX freestyling event, Mohammad Dinie F Johari and Mohamad Syahman F Johari flew the flag for the country in the skateboarding competition.

However, both of them were not able to qualify for the final after Mohammad Dinie finished 16th in a field of 28 competitors and Mohamad Syahman 27th.

Mohammad Dinie posted a result of 65.66 while Mohamad Syahman's result was 47.00.

The Brunei Times