SPORTS
ALIVE AND KICKING: Alvarez bronze sustains Filipino momentum
‘It was extremely challenging today. This wasn’t the preparation I expected. It really didn’t pan out today.’
The first gold medal may be elusive, but Team Philippines still found a way to avoid a complete shutout as Carlos Alvarez stepped onto the medal podium following his semifinal finish in the mixed martial arts competition of the 20th Asian Games at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center in Nagoya on Monday.
Alvarez bagged the bronze medal after surrendering to Yerkingali Burkutalin of Kazakhstan via unanimous decision in the semifinals of the men’s -77-kilogram event, but his contribution is a welcome development for the national squad that is still searching for its first gold medal.
The Team Lakay fighter admitted he became too eager to finish the bout, so he went for the kill without calculating his move.
“I rushed myself in the second round because I wasn’t able to counter his hits,” said Alvarez, a Team Lakay member who became the second Filipino medalist after the quintet of Bambi Zoleta, Princess Catindig, Christy Sanosa, Shyryn Salazar and Hilary Paas cornered a bronze medal in the women’s team event of the soft tennis competition on the opening day of hostilities on Sunday.
But the wait for the elusive gold will not be long.
Veteran international campaigner Jean Claude Saclag inched closer to the title after beating Japan’s Daisuke Murayama via unanimous decision in the men’s traditional -65kg semifinal.
The 31-year-old Saclag will face Tajikistan’s Otabek Rajabov in the gold medal match Tuesday at 2:47 p.m. (Manila time).
“We’re used to playing in the finals, so I’m inspired. It still feels different since this is the Asian Games,” Saclag, a three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist as a wushu fighter, said.
Over at the Rainbow Hall of the Nagoya City General Gymnasium, Carlos Yulo advanced to three apparatus finals after topping the floor exercise qualification and making the cut in the vault and parallel bars.
The two-time Olympic champion scored 14.600 points for first place on floor exercise, while placing seventh on vault with 14.266 and sixth on parallel bars with 14.266.
Yulo, however, admitted he was disappointed with his performance after failing to land his first vault attempt.
“It was extremely challenging today. This wasn’t the preparation I expected. It really didn’t pan out today,” Yulo, one of the heavyweights in this continental tourney, told Manila-based reporters.
“Although I was okay on the pommel horse, I just couldn’t accept my performance on the vault earlier.”
His younger brother Eldrew, who finsihed fourth in the floor exercise with 13.966, also advanced to the horizontal bar final despite finishing ninth in the qualification with 13.433 points, as only two gymnasts per country are allowed to advance to the apparatus finals. Miguel Besana likewise booked a spot in the vault final after placing fourth with 13.933 points.
At the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, former Olympic medalist Kayla Sanchez missed the podium in the women’s 50-meter backstroke after finishing fifth, though she set a new national record of 28.19 seconds.