Gold within reach
MMA fighter Jean Claude Saclag powered into the gold-medal match and ace gymnast Carlos Yulo roared into four finals to headline a day of triumph and grind – and ultimately rewarding – for Team Philippines at the Asian Games here yesterday.
Saclag is now a victory away from delivering the country’s first gold in this Asiad – and the first-ever Asian Games gold in mixed martial arts.
The Filipino standout neutralized Japan’s Daisuke Murayama in the men’s traditional -65kg semifinals at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center, using sharp striking and airtight takedown defense to keep the dangerous grappler at bay for a unanimous decision.
The Baguio warrior faces Tajikistan’s Otabek Rajabov for gold today.
“Ramdam ko na mas malakas ako. Na-overpower ko siya,” said Saclag whose game plan was simple: keep distance, punish, and don’t get dragged to the mat.
“Kailangan keep natin ‘yung distance, saktan natin siya, tapos depensahan natin ‘yung takedowns niya,” he said. “Sanay naman tayo lumaban sa finals, kaya mas lalo akong na-inspire. Iba pa rin ‘to. Asian Games ‘to, eh.”
Saclag’s win assured the Philippines of at least silver and followed Carlos Alvarez’s bronze in the men’s traditional -77kg.
Alvarez, 27, swept Indonesia’s Ananda Wahyu Setyo Prabowo, 3-0, in the quarters before bowing to Kazakhstan’s taller Yerkingali Burkutalin, 0-3, in a tight semifinal.
It was an emotional day for Philippine gymnastics. The morning started with news that Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion had lost her husband back home. She was scheduled to fly out of Nagoya last night.
Her gymnasts responded with a performance that made the nation proud.
Carlos Yulo, Karl Eldrew Yulo, Juancho Miguel Besana, Justine Ace de Leon and Zachary Nunez composed Team Phl that topped the morning qualification round before eventually settling for sixth – after the afternoon subdivision. The Philippines made the team final with China, Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam and Singapore.
In the individual all-around, Eldrew placed seventh and Carlos ninth as China’s Zhang Boheng took gold over Japanese stars Shinnosuke Oka and Daiki Hashimoto.
King Carlos – the No. 1 qualifier in floor exercise – booked three apparatus finals: floor (No. 1), vault (No. 7) and parallel bars (No. 6). Eldrew joined him in the floor final at No. 4 and just missed the horizontal bar final at No. 9. Besana will join Carlos in the vault medal round.
The men’s floor final is tomorrow and vault and parallel bars on Friday.
Elsewhere, boxer Norlan Petecio made an impressive Asian Games debut and Gilas Pilipinas Men’s 3x3 scored a two-game sweep.
The Filipinas marched to the quarterfinals for the second straight Asiad after finishing as the best third-placed team in group play.
Despite dropping a 1-5 loss to China in the final match of Group G at the Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium yesterday, the Pinay booters have logged enough – four points on a 1-1-1 win-draw-loss card - to join the group topnotcher Chinese (seven points on two wins and a draw) and No. 2 Uzbekistan (five points on one win and two draws) in the KO rounds.
But it will be tough in the Last-8 with a battle against the Group E winner – most likely defending champion and host Japan – next.
In the pool, Kayla Sanchez and Teia Salvino made the women’s 50m backstroke final but finished fifth and 10th, respectively.
Sanchez put up a fierce fight. While backstroke isn’t her forte, the Filipina swimming sensation showcased incredible versatility and broke her newly set national record, clocking 28.19 seconds.
Salvino also gave it her all, clocking 29.02 seconds.
On the sand, Sofiah Shanine Pagara and Khylem Harl Progella overwhelmed Maldives’ Anal Fathimath and Areesha Aminath, 21-6, 21-11, in women’s Pool G, while James Buytrago and Ronniel Rosales crushed Mongolia’s Shijir-erdene Bat-enkh and Amar Batmunkh, 21-11, 21-15, in men’s Pool C.
Team Phl missed a sweep after Lerry John Francisco and Alnakran Abdilla bowed to Qatar’s Ahmed Janko and Cherif Samba, 7-21, 10-21.
In triathlon, the mixed relay team of Raven Faith Alcoseba, Andrew Kim Remolino, Kim Mangrobang and Fernando Jose Casares clocked 1:32:56 for ninth out of 14 teams. China – Lin Xinyu, Li Mingyu, Huang Anqi and Zhang Xirui – ruled in 1:25:54.
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