Top action athletes converge in Shanghai for inaugural KIA World Extreme Games

Shanghai – The inaugural Kia World Extreme Games (KWEG) climbed off to a fantastic start on Sunday, with the crowning of the women’s speed climbing champion, Russian Yulina Levochkina at the widely anticipated extreme games event the KIC Jiangwan Sports Centre, located in Yang Pu District, Shanghai, China.
 
The prestigious multi-action sports event will take place over four thrilling days from 9 to 12 June, with exclusive LIVE coverage on FOX SPORTS from 10 – 12 June from 4 – 6pm PHL time.
 
Nearly 200 of the world’s top action sports athletes from some 30 countries and regions have converged into Shanghai to compete for glory and the prize purse of USD250,000 a 60% increase compared with that from the 2012 competition.
 
The inaugural Kia World Extreme Games is the renewed collaboration between FOX Sports Event Management, part of FOX International Channels (FIC) Asia, News Corporation’s international multi-media business and Asia’s leading pay-TV network, and title sponsor Kia Motors as part of a new three-year deal that will take Asia’s biggest action sports event to world-class status.
 
Highlights of the event that have thrilled fans and participants alike are the increase of competition categories from three to five, with the latest additions being FMX (Freestyle Motocross) and Speed Climbing. FMX will also showcase some of the world’s best riders in gravity-defying stunts in the new ‘Step-Up’ competition.  The remaining three competition categories are BMX Freestyle, Skateboarding and Aggressive In-line Skating.
 
Part of the stellar list of action sport athletes include familiar names such as skateboarding veteran, Andy MacDonald, and rising star, 2012 X-Games Big Air medalist, 19-year old Nolan Munroe, both from the USA. As for Aggressive In-Line, the ever-popular Yasutoko brothers from Japan have returned to compete. The younger of the Yasutoko brothers, Takeshi Yasutoko will be striving for his seventh consecutive gold medal at the Games.  Other names that will set to thrill action sports fans include returning champion of BMX Vert and mini-MegaRamp Vince Byron to defend his crown against returning runner-up Zach Warden.
 
On Sunday, the KWEG crowned its first champion in the women’s speed climbing category, 23-year old Russian Yulina Levochkina. The only women’s category in the KWEG, the event was fiercely contested, with strong Asian participation, with climbers from China, Indonesia and Thailand.
 
However despite the stellar Asian performance, Levochkina edged in front with a winning time of 21.9 seconds, followed by runner-up, 25-year old Indonesian Tita Supita, who clocked an impressive time of 23.79 seconds with Russian Anna Tsyganova coming in third.
 
Levochkina, who was a record-breaker at last year’s IFSC World Climbing Championships held in Paris said, “I’m so unbelievably happy right now, it was a great competition and a tough fight from Tita [the runner-up]. I’m also happy because I’ll be buying a car with the prize money I just won!”
 
“This has been a great event for me and I hope to return next year to the Games if I have the opportunity to do so”.
 
Sherman Tan, Senior Director of Sales FOX SPORTS Event Management, said, “We’re pleased to see such a great response to the Kia World Extreme Games, with the most number of participating athletes from not only China but from overseas since we started organizing the action sports event here in Shanghai”.
 
“This truly reflects the increasing popularity of action sports here as well as the growing recognition of the Games beyond China. I’m confident we will be able to scale new heights with this event, further strengthening its position as the pinnacle of action sports in this part of the world”.
 
The Kia World Extreme Games will also be broadcast LIVE on locations across FOX SPORTS networks across Asia from 10 – 12 June from 4 – 6pm PHL time, as well as on Shanghai Media Group’s Great Sports. As part of the FIC network, the Games will also be broadcast in the USA, Latin America, Australia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Go to www.foxsportsasia.com to check local listings for details.
 
Be sure to catch the exciting BMX Vert Finals, and Men’s Speed Climbing finals happening later today!
 
For more information, please log on to www.kiaworldextremegames.com


Press release from Fox Sports