The Taipei leg of the Asian Xtour took off yesterday at the Hsinkong Misukoshi Department store, near City Hall.
In the skateboard preliminaries in the morning all the participants were said to have impressed leading judge Sasha Steinhorst.
He said there had been a lot of improvement since last year when the Xtour came round to Taiwan.
All the competitors had made good use of the court, Steinhorst said, and had shown "harmonious" skills.
In the in-line skating discipline, Taiwan-based competitors again put on a good show, enough for the judge Mike Opalek to say that local in-line skaters had the potential to dominate world competition.
Local heroes Cheng Ban-chang and Ben Liao drew loud applause from the watching crowds yesterday when they did their bike stunts.
Lin Chia-hui drew the spotlight, however, when he did a 360-degree spin, which was the first time the trick had been succesfully demonstrated in Taiwan.
Mark Own, the BMX judge, said that the quality of the BMX performances had improved since last year.
Owen said that it was important for local X-gamers to keep practicing and support their peers to achieve more in the sport.
He said 80 percent of Taiwan's competitors had given reasonable runs and was impressed by the level of support fans expressed.
At the end of the day, however, it was the world's No. 1 and No. 2 ranked in-line skaters. the Yasutoko brothers, who wowed the fans the most.
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