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Title: We Bleed for the Nation.
Macau University Sports Complex, Extreme Sports Pavilion. Inside the cold Medical Emergency room, tensed and anxious mood was evident. Everyone was moving double quick time in the tiny well-lighted room. Conversation between the medical team and sports doctors was done in a mixture of Mandarin, Cantonese and English. All hands were over an athlete lying on a stretcher placed on the floor, right in the middle of the room.
Eyes wide open with pale red blood from the nose, smeared across his swollen cheekbone. Chee Keong was still in a daze. His eyeball only rolled towards me when I told him he got Bronze in his best trick event. Blood shot teary eyes; he gripped my hand firmly with pride. His second medal in 2 days. Medal for the Nation with a little blood, our red dot.
Are we over doing it? Is this necessary? Most non-riders ponder. The Extreme Sports Team Singapore was chosen on a high chance of winning a medal. If we don’t stand a chance to win a medal, we will probably not be selected for the event. Even if we are selected and we don’t win, we maybe drop in the next competition and BMX will never shine in Singapore. For that reason, we believe it is worth it. We now hope more people understand the culture and spirit of BMXers. There are many talented local riders exploring the streets of Singapore. Without proper facilities, there is no way our local talent can compete at a high level and returning home without a drop of blood. Give us proper facilities to ride and we can save our blood for needy patient waiting in the hospital.
This badly written article is specially crafted for Chee Keong (Fractured cheekbone and wrist, during AIG 2007), Chi Siang (Badly fractured shin, ankle and foot while practising for AIG 2007), Huffy Khoo (Head concussion while practising for AIG 2007), Firdaus and Nazeer (Skate Boarder who gave their best in contributing to the Team). You guys gave a new meaning to the sports. Positive, Personality, Perseverance, Passion and Pretty girls queuing up.
We are the first Singapore contingent to arrive in Macau. At the hotel lobby, we were warmly welcome by a line of lovely ladies from the Macau University. We never expect such hospitality. Nevertheless it was nice of the organising committee.
Most of the ladies came from Mainland China to seek better education. Initially, everyone was stuttering with what language to use. Finally, we settled with mandarin. Check out how confident the ladies are with us. They are showing the victory sign for us when the competition hasn’t even started yet. Isn’t that cool?
Macau is like a mini version Las Vegas. Loads of casino filling the bottom of many amazing skyscraper, covered with playful synchronise neon lights. Macau is divided into 2 Island where 3 long bridges link them together. The southern island is the newer Macau where the airport and the most talk about Venetian Hotel are located. As you go up north, the building gets older. That is where most of the hood is. A little further north, you will end up at the Barrier Gate. That is the border between Macau and China. It is similar to the Woodlands and JB custom. Only different, there is no causeway between them. Less than a minute walk between the Macau and China custom.
On the first night, we were out street riding in Macau. Not really well taken pictures but visible enough.
Riding in front of the old and new Lisboa Casino was sweet. With the cooling temperature and autumn breeze, everyone was hyped up. Huffy bunny-hop over the barrier while CK 180 bar-spin on the giant glass shelter. Good tourist photo sessions.
The event site was located at the Macau University. Macau actually built a new stadium just to house the skate park for AIG 2007. Hence, everything was very new. The only weird thing is the location of the Half-pipe. It is kept outside the stadium exposing to mother nature.
The Thai National Team arrived well prepared. They had 4 park and 2 flatland riders. The Wanitsakun brothers competed in Park, Best Tech and Vert. While the other 2 park riders competed in Big Air. CK went for Big Air, Park and Best Tech. While Huffy rode Park, Best Tech and Vert. During practise, the Thai riders only concentrate in their specialty. As for CK and Huffy, they need to practise everything.
The final results went like this:
Park - Thailand(Gold), Thailand(Silver), Taiwan(Bronze)
Big Air - Thailand(4.05m), Singapore(4m), Thailand(3.8m)
Best Tech - Taiwan(Gold), Thailand(Silver), Singapore(Bronze)
Vert - Thailand(Gold), Thailand(Silver), Taiwan(Bronze)
Flatland - Thailand(Gold), Thailand(Silver), Malaysia(Bronze)
Flatland was almost cancelled due to insufficient participating countries. Riders from China did not turn up. Therefore, the AXF requested a park rider from Indonesia to fill the number. Not so professional in my opinion. Nevertheless, the event went on. Thailand came in 1st and 2nd, while Malaysia got 3rd place. This is the first time I see flatland contest on parquet timber. It wasn’t vanished though, just raw parquet compressed together. The ground was hard, since it is only temporary, the parquet produce a cracking noise when you roll over it.
This article is getting a little boring. Let me leak out what happened behind the scene. There are 5 park judges selected from various Asian countries. 4 main judges came from Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. An overall head judge representing Korea. During the briefing, the head judge with very little spoken English briefed the other judges about the judging system. Basically, the other judge could not understand his English and was trying to cipher what he actually meant. Then the Malaysian judge took over the helm and tried explaining to the Taiwanese and Thai in somewhat better English, while explaining to the Singaporean in Malay. Thinking most Singaporean speak Malay. The Singaporean is not really well verse in Malay but understood every word in English. Finally he translated everything in Mandarin to the Taiwanese judge. The Thai actually speak better English. That scene was hilarious.
Okay here are the rest of the photos. Enjoy!
Taken during the opening ceremony.
BTW the ladies in pink top holding the signboard of countries are models from Beijing measuring 1.8m and above. We all felt like little dwarf beside them. They need to bend their knees to reach Huffy’s height. Even Flatland guru Martti Kuoppa needs to tip toe to reach the model holding the Singapore signboard. Check them out:
Bonus photo taken by various contributors:
Our first meal in Macau happened at Pizza Hut. Nice cosy restaurant with very nice service. I would say the whole experience at Pizza Hut is definitely better than in Singapore.
Hanging out with BMX and Aggressive Inline judges representing Singapore.
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That is the way you should pose when you win an award. Stylo-Milo-Overtine.
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Khoo Boo Ann
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Chee Keong
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Nazeer
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Firdaus
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Super Taiwan Ah Kun with a super no hander over the box jump.
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Malaysia Chng Toh before he got the stitches on his lips.
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Chee Keong at his final medal. Swollen cheek and fracture wrist.
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Spelling error help make everyone loving walking down that lane.
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Thanks for taking your time.
Hope you enjoy our contribution.
Credit to Khoo Boo Ann, Ng Chee Keong, Ashler Lwi and Simon Lim
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Big Air - Thailand(4.05m), Singapore(4m), Thailand(3.8m)
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Our first meal in Macau happened at Pizza Hut. Nice cosy restaurant with very nice service. I would say the whole experience at Pizza Hut is definitely better than in Singapore.
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