Story contributed by reader Bryan James Kwa. Photos contributed by Glenn Chia & Krystal Teo

World Slalom Championships 2009

The face of concentration as an athlete goes around the cones. (Photo 1 contributed by Glenn Chia and Krystal Teo)

Sembawang Mega Court, Saturday, May 2, 2009 - Roller Sports Singapore, in conjunction with Micro Sports Singapore held selection trials for athletes for the upcoming 2nd World Slalom Championships scheduled for August 2009 in Shanghai.

This year, a total of 36 positions (6 men and 6 women from each category) were made available for freestyle inline skaters from all over the country to represent Singapore at the Shanghai event. The three categories consisting of six representatives each include: Classic Style Slalom, Speed Slalom and Slide.

Last December, Singaporean sliders representing our country at the inaugural World Slalom Championships held in Singapore competed against foreign athletes and clinched the top 3 positions in all age and gender groups. Terence Cheung also attained 9th position in the inaugural event's Classic Style Slalom and is currently ranked 19th overall in the world.

Terence, hoping to do well at the upcoming championships, says, "May the best style win this August!"

Freestyle skating, which is new to the local scene, is fast gaining popularity among many schools, institutes and even the public. It is a highly technical discipline of skating, often regarded by many as one comparable to that of professional figure skating.

In Classic Style Slalom, athletes weave in and out through rows of equally spaced cones, executing various tricks in any stylish manner possible.

Speed Slalom also uses cones in a similar way but the emphasis is on clocking the best timing by slaloming through a row of twenty cones on one foot.

The third category, Slide (or "Sliding"), allows athletes to perform various ways of stopping on inline-skates, or otherwise referred to as utilizing momentum to manifest various holding positions while coming to a standstill.

Please refer to www.worldslalomseries.com for updates on competitions all over the world.

Results (only qualifiers are shown):

Classic Style Slalom (Men)
1. Cheung Terence
2. Ng Ping Hwee
3. Cheung Clarence
4. Carlson Ow Yong Chun Cher
5. Kwa Leung Hong Bryan James
6. Hor Beng Hung Jerome

Classic Style Slalom (Women)
1. Lee Chew Lian
2. Tay Shu Wen
3. Rachelle Yeo Peck Ying
4. Ivy Chiu Shee Ting

Speed Slalom (Men)
1. Goh En Ci Jireh
2. Cheung Clarence
3. Cheung Terence
4. Teo Chang Meng Ben
5. Ng Hock Soon Andy
6. Hor Beng Hung Jerome

Speed Slalom (Women: Non-ranking order)
1. Rebecca Chew Rui Jun
2. Kuek Zi Yi
3. Lee Chew Lian
4. Rachelle Yeo Peck Ying

Slide (Men)
1. Goh En Mu Rohi
2. Wong Jie Wei Ernest
3. Goh En Ci Jireh
4. Tan Zhi Zhong
5. Christopher Peter Chong
6. Kae Tan Zhi Quan

Slide (Women: Non-ranking order)
1. Rebecca Chew Rui Jun
2. Kuek Zi Yi
3. Felicia Ong Yu Ting

World Slalom Championships 2009

Rasing his leg to weave round the course. (Photo 2 contributed by Glenn Chia and Krystal Teo)

World Slalom Championships 2009

Talk about style! A contestant grabs his cap as he executes a trick. (Photo 3 contributed by Glenn Chia and Krystal Teo)

World Slalom Championships 2009

A skater doing a Classic Style routine. (Photo 4 contributed by Glenn Chia and Krystal Teo)

Terence Cheung Top Qualifier

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6n9jTj3_CY

Ng Ping Hwee Second Best Qualifier

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhHduQKK3kc

Clarence Cheung Third Best Qualifier

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um6Z_wrbeCo

Singapore Freestyle Slalom Skaters 2009 (View in HD)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUq_oKW5Boc