{"id":317002,"date":"2023-09-27T09:26:43","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T09:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/popularindinews.com\/?p=317002"},"modified":"2023-09-27T09:26:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T09:26:43","slug":"cui-13-is-chinas-youngest-asian-games-gold-medallist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/popularindinews.com\/sport\/cui-13-is-chinas-youngest-asian-games-gold-medallist\/","title":{"rendered":"Cui, 13, is China’s youngest Asian Games gold medallist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cui Chenxi became China’s youngest Asian Games gold medallist on Wednesday after the 13-year-old skateboarder won the women’s street event on day four of competition in Hangzhou.<\/p>\n

With an eye-catching performance featuring several ‘Ollies’ and a huge move off a high rail, which several of her competitors avoided, Cui took gold ahead of compatriot Zeng Wenhui, 18, with Japanese 16-year-old Miyu Ito taking bronze.<\/p>\n

“I did quite well today,” Cui said modestly.<\/p>\n

Cui, who hails from China’s eastern Shandong province, only took up skateboarding in 2020 when China’s COVID restrictions meant she could not practice rollerblading, which she began as a three-year-old.<\/p>\n

The street competition involves skaters performing daring tricks on a course that has features that resemble an urban environment including rails and gaps.<\/p>\n

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In bright, warm and humid conditions, which felt even hotter because of the skate park’s concrete jungle nature, scores of dragonflies shared air time with the competitors as they performed their tricks.<\/p>\n

The women’s skaters did two ‘runs’ followed by five individual ‘tricks’. Each athlete’s highest scoring run and two highest scoring tricks were then added together to reach a final score.<\/p>\n

Margielyn Didal, who won gold for the Philippines at the 2018 Asian Games, is still only 24 yet she seemed like a veteran with all her competitors in the final 18 or under.<\/p>\n

With protective equipment required for competitors under 18, Didal was the only athlete in final not forced to wear a helmet of padding to protect her knees.<\/p>\n

“I don’t feel old because I’m also a bit childish, I just want to mess around,” she said, after an injury in the final meant she finished last of the eight skaters.<\/p>\n

“But I feel kind of left out because everyone is wearing helmets and knee pads.”<\/p>\n