Top 10 finish for Mohd Shopian in S'pore

IN-LINE skater Mohd Shopian Mat Said finished a respectable 10th in the inaugural Singapore Extreme Championship in Singapore yesterday.

After qualifying for the final as the 10th best skater with a result of 67.83 during Saturday's heat at the S$8 million Xtreme SkatePark @ East Coast, the 26-year-old Bruneian finished the competition in the same position since the final was cancelled due to rain.

"The final was cancelled because of rain so the organisers just used Saturday's result, the one which qualified us for the final," said Mohd Shopian when contacted yesterday.

"I am just happy to have made it into the Top 10.

"What's next? I just want to keep on skating and try to compete in more tournaments around the region," added Mohd Shopian, who picked up the sport 15 years ago.

He won S$300 just for making it to the final, though he stood a chance at winning more if the final was contested since the top five finalists were set to receive more prize money.

The country's other representative in the event, Md Samsul Mohamed was heartbreakingly 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.

Singaporean Fazuly Sudarmaji won the event, with compatriot Jatt finishing second and Thai Sarawuth Boonnim coming in third.

The skate park was declared open by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday and Singapore Extreme Championship was organised to mark the occasion.

It is also the first and only skate park in Singapore of world class competition standards and Mohd Shopian said that Brunei could do with one of its own.

"The one hope I have right now is that I would like to see Brunei with a proper skate park as well," he said.

Aggressive in-line skating, BMX freestyling and skateboarding were the three extreme sports contested at the tournament, and some 80 participants from Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines took part 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. The Brunei Times