Rabe makes cold Winter Games debut

YABULI, China — Rising star Laetaz Amihan Rabe had a forgettable debut as she finished last among six competitors in the women’s freestyle ski slopestyle event of the 9th Asian Winter Games inside northeastern province of Heilongjiang.

The 15-year-old Rabe garnered a score of 56.50 points in her first run but committed a DNI (Did Not Improve) tag in her final two runs that pushed her all the way to sixth place in the event ruled by three Chinese freestyle skiers.

But the setback hardly hampered the spirits of the young skier.

“I’m still happy with my runs even though it ended at last (place). But I’ve done a lot of progressions and I did my best where I pushed myself that I have never done before,” said Rabe, the daughter of Ric from Cotabato City and Aileen from Malolos, Bulacan who was also supposed to represent the country in the Winter Youth Olympics in South Korea last year but suffered an injury.

China’s veteran freestyle skiers 20-year-old Liu Mengting showcased a tough gravity-defying stunt and some other spins and tricks to score a commanding 94.0 points, enough to give the home country the gold medal.

Her compatriot Yang Ruyi, 19, and Han Linshan, 18, grabbed the silver and bronze medals with 90.50 and 87.00 points, respectively, to complete the Chinese domination in this tourney that was decided by judges from Slovenia, Japan, China, South Korea and Austria.

Japanese freestyle ski champion Kiho Sugarawa placed fourth with 81.75 points while fellow Japanese Kanon Kondo dropped to fifth with 72.00 as they also both committed DNI in their last run at the downhill slopestyle course.

Rabe, the first year senior high in College André-Chavanne in Geneva, Switzerland, did a 360-degree trick at the right side, cannon move and tail grab in the first run.

She tried some moves in the second and third run, but the judges were not convinced of keeping his score in the first run.

Over at the Harbin Pingfang District Curling Arena, Team Philippines dropped another match in women’s curling after Kazakhstan escaped with a hard-fought 5-4 victory.

With the game tied down to the last end, Filipino-American skip Kathleen Dubberstein launched the team’s final stone with Anne Bonache and Leilani Sumbillo An efficiently guiding it across the ice sheet for a winning position.

But Kazakh skip Angelina Ebauyer slid the last shot straight to the house while Merey Tastemir and Tilsimay Alliyarova patiently maneuvered the rock that bumped the Filipinos’ stone out of its spot on their way to victory.

The Filipina curlers absorbed their second defeat in four matches and still have four games in the single-round, nine-team tournament in a bid to advance to the semifinals.

They are set to face Thailand on Tuesday evening before taking a difficult route on Wednesday against powerhouse China and South Korea prior to punctuating the eliminations against Chinese Taipei on Thursday.