Didal, Panugalinog roll over foes in Asian skateboarding tiff done online

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines stamped its class in the first-ever Asian Skateboarding Championships 2020 online skate video contest with Margielyn Didal and Motic Panugalinog completing a twin-kill in both divisions following a monthlong deliberation from prestigious judges around the world.

Didal and Panugalinog, who are both from Cebu, hardly broke a sweat in their perfect and nasty tricks at home during quarantine to cop the double-gold victory over 162 entries from 38 Asian countries.

A Cebuano rising star who also won the DC Southeast Asian Tour Amateur competition last year, Panugalinog (8.92) impressed with stunts over a motorcycle, a sofa and a study chair to reign supreme over Indonesia's Basral Graito (8.34) and Firas Ahmed Al-Hinai (8.34) of Oman.

Then there’s Didal, the reigning Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games skateboarding queen.

Displaying tricks from above the kitchen sink and rolling through a long table, Didal (8.00) topped the women’s division over Japan’s Yurin Fujii (7.50) and Orapan Arwen Tongkong (7.46) of Thailand.

More than the citation though, the event served as a continuous training and conditioning for Didal amid the crisis in her bid for qualification in the Tokyo Olympics that was pushed back to next year.

Only top 20 hopefuls from the women’s street skate discipline will be given tickets to the Summer Games and Didal is currently no. 14 before the suspension of remaining qualifiers.

Aside from the championship trophies, the Philippine skateboarding duo also won a prize of $250 each in the fun lockdown event of ASC that was launched last May to inspire creativity, innovative content and keep Asian skaters connected in the middle of the pandemic and lockdown measures.

It also aimed to display solidarity among all amateur and pro skaters across Asia in light of isolation and lockdown brought by the coronavirus crisis.

New Balance’s Anthony Claravall, Vans’ Tommy Zhao, Adidas’ Laurence Keefe and Nike’s Nino Moscardi were the judges in this historic event that scrutinized the best skaters from the continent based on creativity (70%) and difficulty (30%).