Filipino fighters capped their campaign in style, with Aislinn Yap capturing the country’s third and final gold medal to wrap up a highly successful showing in the 11th Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships presented by the Philippine Sports Commission on Sunday.
Competing before an energetic home crowd at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Yap edged Kazakhstan’s Zamzagul Faizollanova, 1-0, to successfully defend her women’s -80kg combat sambo title. The victory came after Yap executed a decisive takedown midway through the match against the five-time Kazakhstan national champion.
Faizollanova’s camp protested the scoring of the takedown, but following a video review, technical officials upheld the original decision, sealing Yap’s title defense.
Yap’s triumph completed the Philippines’ three-gold haul after national team standouts Jomary Torres and Princess Cortez ruled their respective divisions the previous night in the tournament held under the auspices of the National Sports Tourism Interagency Committee led by PSC Chairman Patrick Gregorio.
(C) PSC
World No. 7 Torres delivered one of the tournament’s most spectacular finishes, knocking out Kazakhstan’s Zhadyra Paiyz just seconds into the women’s 50kg combat sambo final with a picture-perfect right roundhouse kick to the head.
After observing that Paiyz remained on her knees and appeared dazed, the referee stopped the bout and awarded Torres an 8-0 victory for the gold medal.
In a display of sportsmanship, Torres immediately checked on her fallen opponent after the stoppage.
Inspired by her teammate’s performance, Cortez followed with a dominant 9-2 victory over Kazakhstan’s Mervet Berdhinakova in the women’s 59kg combat sambo division.
The three gold medals helped soften the disappointment of defending women’s +80kg combat sambo champion Sydney Sy, who fell, 6-0, to familiar rival and former world champion Arailym Abenova of Kazakhstan.
The Philippines also collected its third silver medal through national team newcomer Jasmaine Henryk Ching, who lost by submission to Kazakhstan’s Gulo Almukhanbetova in the women’s -54kg sport sambo final.
The host nation concluded the championships with three gold, three silver, and eight bronze medals, surpassing last year’s tally of two gold medals won by Yap and Sy. The performance earned the Philippines fifth place overall in the medal standings among the 22 participating countries in the tournament organized by the Pilipinas Sambo Federation, Inc.
(C) PSC
“Ang sabi namin ni Coach Jerry (Legaspi) na dadaanin namin sa suntok, pero sabi ko sa sarili ko na maliit yung kalaban ko kaya sinubukan ko. At tumama naman,” said Torres, a native of Dipolog, Zamboanga del Norte.
“Malaki ang paghihirap ko na manalo ito kaya masarap ang feeling ko na makuha ang gold,” added the former mixed martial arts practitioner, who at 30 years old is the most veteran member of the national team.
“Torres has come full circle, and she is deserving of her gold medal,” said national team head coach Ace Larida. “She is the complete package and deserves that victory.”
Despite settling for silver, Sy remained proud of the team’s overall accomplishment.
“I really, really wanted to win but it was not my day,” Sy said between sobs while being consoled by her brother, Chino.
“But I am proud of how national team performed because we won three golds and saw how our sport practically grew from nothing,” added Sy, who also played a key role in organizing the competition and had limited training while her father, Pilipinas Sambo Federation president Paolo Tancontian, was recovering from illness.
Tancontian expressed satisfaction with both the staging of the tournament and the performance of the Filipino athletes.
“We proved once again we are among Asia—and the world’s—best. I am very happy with the outcome,” Tacontian said.
“Now that we’ve hosted the Asia-Oceania Championships, our next goal is the worlds.”
