broke attendance records with 54,500 fans at Shanghai’s KIC Jiangwan Sports Center.
"As the X Games Franchise continues to grow on a global scale, we could not be more excited to further our relationship with KIA and continue our tradition of bringing world class action sports competition to China,” said Rick Alessandri, senior Vice President, X Games franchise.
Manu Sawhney, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, said, “We are very pleased to renew our partnership with Kia Motors, a passionate supporter of action sports. We are also heartened by the enthusiasm of Shanghai’s Yangpu District and the Shanghai Media Group, in addition to our category sponsors and co-organizers in making KIA X Games Asia a truly spectacular experience for fans. We look forward to working closely with our partners to deliver another exhilarating edition of KIA X Games Asia event to fans in Shanghai.”
KIA X Games Asia 2010, will showcase more than 200 of the best action sports athletes from more than 20 countries and five continents in world-class competition in the sports of Skateboard (Vert and Street), BMX (Vert and Street), In-Line Skate (Vert and Street) and Sport Climbing (Men Speed and Women Speed). Televised live from Shanghai’s KIC Jiangwan Stadium, X Games Asia will air on ESPN Asia networks and will be organized by sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports along with the Shanghai Media Group and Shanghai Sports Federation. The event will also be shown on ESPN International networks in Latin America, Australia, Middle East and Africa. Kia Motors has been a proud sponsor of the X Games Asia since 2005 and became its title sponsor since 2007 when it was first held in Shanghai, China.
“KIA X Games Asia continues to evolve every year in line with the growing popularity of extreme sports in China and the entire Asia region.” said Byung-Tae Yea, Executive Vice President of Kia Motors. “We at Kia Motors are delighted to be a big part of such a dynamic competition featuring some of Asia’s best athletes. As a brand, Kia Motors strives to appeal to adventurous and young-at-heart consumers, and the X Games Asia is a perfect fit for our global brand ambitions.”
X Games Asia was the first international X Games outside of the US and was launched in Phuket, Thailand in 1998. Since then, the event has been held across Asia, which also saw editions held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Seoul, Korea.