Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) — Skateboard wunderkind Mazel Paris Alegado — who at nine years of age is the country’s youngest athlete at the Asian Games — may not have won gold, but she proved that passion for sport comes at any age.
“I wasn’t really nervous, I was really excited about it,” Alegado told Sports Desk about her experience at the Asiad.
She competed alongside eight others and finished seventh in the Women’s Park final. Hinako Kusaki from Japan captured the gold.Despite this, Alegado said she was happy with her experience.This is my first time and, yeah, I’m just really proud to skate in it,” she said. Training in Portugal, she said she skated around eight hours a day.Alegado said she began skating when she was five years old.I loved how you could just cruise around everywhere. You could be who you want to be and you could skate with your friends,” she said.The young athlete said Olympic skateboarder Margielyn Didal is her idol.She supported me a lot. She pushed me to my limits and she taught me to say ‘salamat po,’ [‘thank you’]” Alegado said.She also offered some words of advice to other young girls who want to take on the sport.Don’t give up, try your hardest, and if boys can do it, girls can do it.
