(Sunday 28th August, 2011): Firdaus Rahman had himself a pretty nice Sunday, taking home USD$10,000 as the winner of the inaugural Billabong City Squared Asia Skateboarding Invitational presented by Sony Ericsson. The Singapore local claimed the majority share of one of the largest prize purses in Asia skate history, a hefty and unprecedented USD $20,000. Firdaus skated consistently and explosively through the day, as invitee skaters from Thailand, the USA, Hong Kong, China, Russia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia gradually fell away in the elimination event. “I was so happy the weather turned out awesome today, as yesterday was really hard for everyone” Firdaus explained, “But today it was great vibes, great people, good music and amazing skateboarding!”.
At 8pm on August the 27th, the day that the City Squared Invitational was supposed to run, the event had seen no more than 6 minutes of skating action due to a day of torrential downpours. Event organisers made the decision to postpone the competition, held at the ever busy Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza on Orchard Road, for 24 hours in the hope of improving weather and a chance to name an event winner. “It was nervous times yesterday” stated Billabong Brand Manager Peter Thew, “But the guys were all really amped to see some skating, especially with that obstacle and that crowd… so we were relieved to get such a great result today”.
On top of the cash, as the event winner, Firdaus took home a new Sony Ericsson Experia Active phone and to top the day off he was also awarded the Nixon best trick prize, a custom made one-of-a-kind 51-30 watch. Not going home empty handed was crowd favourite Tommy Fynn from New Zealand who snatched second place and a tidy USD$6,000 ahead of Firdaus’ younger brother Farris USD$3,000. “The Rahman brothers skated so hard today” said Event Coordinator Woody Sedgman, “Farris was slamming as hard as I’ve seen anyone slam, but he would always get straight back up and pull something insane”. Australia’s Jesse Noonan took out 4th place with some aggressive skating and creative lines, pocketing USD$1,000.
The crowd was kept happy, even through the wet weather weekend, with Sony Ericsson phone giveaways from event commentators Cameron “Sparkz” Sparkes and VJ Utt. The Billabong City Squared Asia was proudly presented and made possible by Sony Ericsson, with support from Air Asia, Nixon, and Vitamin Water.
No comments:
Post a Comment