SO NEAR YET SO FAR: Gold remains elusive for hard-fighting Filipinos

The country’s first gold medal remains elusive as two of its brightest bets — mixed martial artist Jean Claude Saclag and swimmer Kyla Sanchez — fell short in their respective events on the third day of hostilities of the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya on Tuesday.

Saclag, a veteran international campaigner with three Southeast Asian Games gold medals under his belt, fell short of winning his first Asian Games title as he bowed to Obatek Rajabov of Tajikistan in the final of the men’s traditional -65-kilogram mixed martial arts (MMA) event at the Nagoya City Inae Stadium.

Saclag expressed regret over his heartbreaking setback, admitting that his performance is not yet good enough to overcome the former International Mixed Martial Arts world and continental champion.

“It’s a real shame. I really wanted to win gold. I expected that I could win gold. I’m sad — not just because I lost, but because of my performance,” said Saclag, who gave the Filipinos their first silver medal after copping a pair of bronzes in the soft tennis and MMA events in the first two days of action.

“I thought I had improved, but his grip on the ground was incredibly tight. I wanted to stand up to get back into the fight, but he just wouldn’t let me.”

The 31-year-old Saclag, a member of renowned Baguio-based MMA club Team Lakay, was hoping to erase the disappointment of losing in the wushu final of the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

He said his transition from wushu to MMA was not difficult given Team Lakay’s background, but the defeat showed him that he still has work to do on the ground.

“I told myself that this was my chance to win gold, because back in 2014, I also lost in the wushu finals,” Saclag added.

“I didn’t find the transition difficult, since that is our team’s background in Baguio. However, I realized that I still have a long way to go in improving my ground game,” he said.

Despite his heartbreaking finish, Philippine Sports Commission chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio still praised Saclag for reaching the final just three days into the continental showcase.

“Yes, well fought. Big heart. He apologized. I said, ‘That is a rare silver.’ Be proud JC,” Gregorio said.

Also falling short was Sanchez, a former Olympic medalist when she was still competing for Canada.

The 25-year-old swimmer failed to make it to the medal podium of her pet event — the women’s 100-meter freestyle — after clocking 53.65 seconds, which is just a mere 0.18 seconds slower than bronze medalist Cheng Yukie of China who timed 53.17.

Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong seized the gold medal with 52.45 seconds as Yu Yiting of China took the silver with 53.21 while Heather White, the other Philippine bet in the final, finished 10th and last with 56.01 seconds.

Sanchez, who broke her own record in the 100m freestyle and 50m backstroke, apologized to Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, who took a four-hour drive from Nagoya to Tokyo just to witness her in action together with Philippine Ambassador to Japan Mylene Garcia-Albano.

Aside from Saclag, Team Philippines also picked up a bronze medal in women’s kata through Samantha Emmanuelle Veguillas, Ysabielle Arrogante and Rebecca Cyril Torres at the Toyohashi City General Gymnasium.

The Philippine trio posted scores of 7.8, 7.7, 7.9, 8.7 and 8.1 against Thailand’s 7.6, 7.5, 7.7, 8.5 and 8.3, taking four of the five judges’ decisions.

For Veguillas, teamwork proved crucial to their podium finish.

“I feel like it was our teamwork. I feel like we were always showing up for each other. We often trained at any time, no matter how many hours. So, I feel like we were able to show up for each other, motivate each other,” Veguillas said.