PALEMBANG, Indonesia—In the absence of top Japanese rivals Isa Kaya and Yososomi Sakakura, Cebuana native Margielyn Arda Didal looms as the prohibitive favorite in the 2018 Asian Games skateboarding competitions opening at the Jakabaring Sport City Skate Park on Tuesday.

“With the Japanese out, Margielyn is a very strong prospect for gold in the women’s street event,” said Monty Mendigoria, president of the Skateboard Association of the Philippines Inc., the sport's national governing body.

Mendigoria made the observation following the practice of the national skateboarding squad on Monday.

A post shared by Margielyn Arda Didal (@margielyndidal) on Aug 20, 2017 at 7:08pm PDT

He said that with the field reduced to nine entries “the qualifiers on Tuesday will advance to the finals the next day. This has been reduced to a ranking system to determine the order of performance in the next round.”

Mendigoria explained that the qualifiers were also important, “because this will determine who performs first to last, meaning if our girl gets a highest score tomorrow, then she will be the last to perform and gets to see how the rest fare ahead.

“She can then execute tricks and routines that will be superior than her opponents.”

Mendigoria said Didal was confident delivering the goods as the sport makes its Asian Games debut, and will also be among the handful of disciplines that will officially be introduced in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

He cited her extensive preparations for this meet, including completing in the World Xtreme Games in Minneapolis where she finished eighth overall out of 12 entries plus two weeks of intensive training for free at the Skateboard Camp at Camp Woodward in Pennsylvania.

What sets Didal, 19, apart, he said, “is the fact that Margielyn has been skateboarding with boys since she was 12 years so she is fearless, sometimes reckless, in competing against girls. May pagka-tomboy ang laro niya.”

Besides Didal, also seeing action for the country in the men’s street event preliminaries on Tuesday are Renzo Mak Feliciano and Jeff Gonzales, according to Mendigoria.

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