Mini-MegaRamp™ and Top X Games Athletes Return to Shanghai April 29 – May 2

KIA X Games Asia 2011 will return to Shanghai, China, for the fifth consecutive year April 29 – May 2, and will again showcase mini-MegaRamp™ disciplines after a successful, crowd-pleasing debut at last year’s event. Several of the top and most decorated athletes in X Games history are scheduled to compete at the 13^th annual event, including seven-time Skateboard gold medalists Bob Burnquist and Pierre-Luc Gagnon, eight-time gold medalist Andy Macdonald and two-time X Games Big Air gold medalist Jake Brown.  Headlining a strong BMX field are three-time X Games gold medalist Chad Kagy, X Games Asia BMX Street defending gold medalist Dennis Enarson along with Mini-MegaRamp™ defending champ Vince Byron.

Additionally, Asia’s premier action sports event will feature nearly 200 athletes from more than 30 countries, treating fans to world-class competition in the sports of Skateboard, BMX, Aggressive In-Line Skate and Moto X Big Air demonstrations. This year’s competitors can look forward to a newly designed street course and an increase in prize money as well. This year’s event will be broadcast live on ESPN STAR Sports’ networks across Asia as well as SMG’s Great Sports from Shanghai’s KIC Jiangwan Sprts Center. Details including U.S. telecasts and a list of scheduled athletes will be forthcoming.

“ESPN is thrilled to have X Games Asia back in Shanghai for a fifth consecutive year,” said Scott Guglielmino, senior vice president of programming and Global X Games.  “As the X Games continues to grow, we look forward to bringing outstanding athletes and competition to the region and continuing our commitment to present world-class action sports competitions around the globe.”

After setting attendance records for a fourth consecutive year with 58,400 spectators over the course of four days last year, KIA X Games Asia looks to build on its success and continue developing a strong reputation in the region.   Since moving to Shanghai in 2007, the annual event has attracted more than 199,600 visitors and is expected to draw another large crowd this year.

Details and a list of scheduled athletes for KIA X Games Asia 2011 will be forthcoming on www.kiaxgamesasia.com for the public and www.espneventmedia.com for media.

Event Sponsors and Partners

The KIA X Games Asia 2011 enjoys sponsorship support from Kia Motors Corporation (Title Sponsor); Deerway (Premium Sponsor); Mountain Dew (Gold Sponsor). It is also supported by Crowne Plaza Shanghai Fudan (Official Hotel) and East Ticket (Ticketing Agent).

The event is also supported by various media partners such as Dragon TV, International Channel Shanghai and ML TV (TV Media Partners); Great Sports (Supporting Organizer), FM94.0, Music Radio (Radio Media Partners); Shanghai Daily (English Newspaper Partner), Urban, 1626, Fresh, Touch, Yoho, City Weekend, My Vacation, Elite Traveller, In Night (Print Media Partners), I-Mocha, Minfo (Mobile Media Partners); Check (Chinese Foursquare); ESPNSTAR.com.cn (Special Streaming Partner), Sina.com (Special Portal), Baidu.com (Special Search).

The event is proudly sanctioned by the Chinese Extreme Sports Association and is organized by ESPN STAR Sports, the Shanghai Media Group and the Shanghai Sports Federation. The Shanghai Yang Pu District Government is the event’s Special Organizer and the Shanghai Sports Competition Management Centre is the Co-Organizer, while the Great Sports and Shanghai Extreme Sports Association are Supporting Organisers. The KIC Jiangwan Sports Center is the Official Venue. Other partners include Linktune (Music Partner), Holiday (Official KTV).

About ESPN’s X Games Franchise

ESPN held its first X Games in 1995. ESPN’s Global X Events and Development group is responsible for creating the company’s action sports programming currently airing on ESPN, ESPN2 and across its various international networks.   In addition to the two U.S.-based X-branded events – X Games, and Winter X Games, ESPN has held X Games competitions and demonstration events around the world, including Dubai, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Malaysia, China, France and Spain.  The global X franchise has also expanded its reach to ESPN.com/Action, the definitive site for action sports fans, and to consumer products such as X Games bikes, protective gear, skateboards and DVDs.

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Media Contacts:

Danny Chi, [email protected], 310-642-1509
Katie Moses Swope, [email protected], 303-796-9960