Local exponents of skateboarding have a new home away from the parks and squares of the downtown Shanghai area where they currently perform, and an international tournament next month should go a long way towards boosting the popularity of extreme sports in Shanghai.

Willie Santos traveled halfway around the globe * from San Diego * in southern California * to Shanghai, China * with only one piece of luggage: his skateboard.

Time has left its mark on his skateboard which is now stained and worn. "I can't remember exactly how many years it has been with me but it must be a long, long time," says Santos, a former world champion skateboarder.

The trip to Shanghai was the latest travel credential of its flying owner. He was in town briefly to shoot a skating video at the newly built Jiangwan Skatepark *, a 12,000-square-meter (129,000 square foot) complex of concrete bowls, banks, hips and rails.

"A tremendous experience," says Santos, and he should know - he is one of the organizers of a "community skatepark" back in San Diego.

"I like the mega-pipe here especially," Santos continued. "It takes real guts and skill to do tricks on that."

The pipe he mentions is really huge and looks like a huge tube without a roof. It measures more than 40 meters in length and is 4.1 meters in diameter.

"The park has more than verve," says a proud John Dai, the manager with SMP International, the park's licensing company. "In fact, the park is biggest of its kind in the world."

Jiangwan Skatepark is located on the northeastern fringe of the city and cost about 100 million yuan (US$12.35 million) to build. Its aim is to become the hub for extreme sports in Asia *.

Unlike the way some of the Western mainstream views the sport - which looks on practitioners of street-born extreme sports as juvenile delinquents and nuisances - it has been welcomed in this part of the world. It is not uncommon to see passers-by stopping to enjoy spontaneous performances put on by teenage skateboarders in People's Square. Some exhibitions and competitions that have been held over the past couple of years have also helped to nurture an ever-growing fan base for the bone-bruising extreme sport.

But the construction of the skatepark heralds the beginning of something much bigger. Next month, the official opening of the venue will feature the holding of the "SMP Gravity Shanghai Showdown," an extreme sports meet that will gather together the world's top competitors in half-pipe inline skating, BMX bike riding and, naturally, skateboarding. Santos and Japan *'s Yasutoko Brothers will be the headliners in the "Showdown."

"The event will kick-start the park's bid to become the mecca for extreme sports in the region," says Dai. SMP will also insert live-band performances and a demonstration of freestyle * motorbike racing during the two days of the tournament on October 6-7 for the entertainment of the crowd of spectators estimated to be some 10,000 strong.

Aside from putting itself on the global map, the Jiangwan arena also has a local agenda. Eight Chinese * skaters and bike riders have been given wild cards into the tournament and, more importantly, the venue will be open to local X-sports buffs free of charge, at least for the first few months after the grand opening.

"Street-skating is dangerous and a safe and well-managed venue like ours will persuade parents to allow their kids to play the sport," says Dai. "That, in turn, will help the sport's growth here in town."

A fixed venue that gathers large number of X-sports aficionados also appeals to sponsors. "This means signage opportunities before a large number of spectators at the park and it will also be easy for television to broadcast events," says Jiang Xiaobin, a member of the local marketing crew of the US extreme sports gear maker, Quicksilver. "It is what we have been dreaming of for so long."

Until the new skatepark opens, Shanghai will still see its small but die-hard extreme sports community do their kick-flips and other manoeuvers in the public parks and squares of the downtown area. However, the Jiangwan playground will see this sponsor-friendly congregation of target customers in a new location and this should arouse more business interest in the fledgling sport.

But positive sentiment about the skatepark is not universal.

"The big-name competitions and castle-like skateparks * may be good for sponsors but not skaters," says Leo Tong, a local amateur inline skater who prefers to do his tricks on the stairs at People's Square. "The essence of the sport is to do it in your own way and do it on something that doesn't look like it's meant for skating. That's what the originality of the sport is all about."

This article was originally entitled "Skateboard 'showdown'" and was found at http://english.eastday.com/eastday/ englishedition/features/ userobject1ai1426991.html

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