RP muay practioners get chance to bag gold medals in Macau

Muay thai practitioners Roland Claro and Brent Velasco won over their semis foes Thursday at the Macau 2nd Asian Indoor Games, getting a chance to bag gold medals. According to a Philippine delegation report, light welterweight Ruben Zumido was also looking at following Claro and Velasco into the gold medal fights as he was to face Laotian Sengchanh Sivongsa in one of the semifinal pairings late Thursday night. Zumido, however, is already assured of a bronze medal even if he loses this fight. Velasco posted the more impressive triumph, posting a third-round technical knockout win over Bounma Vongchampa of Laos in their bantamweight semifinals fight. The report added that the referee had to stop the fight to spare Vongchampa from further punishment at the hands of Velasco. Doctors tried to stop the bleeding from Vongchampa's nose after the match was halted. Velasco will face the winner in Friday's match between Cham Kai Chung of Hong Kong and Supachai Payunhan of Thailand. In the other bout, Claro defeated Albert Kujur of India via unanimous decision in the flyweight semifinals. He will face the winner between Artit Mennoi of Thailand and Chan Kai Tik of Hong Kok in the final, also scheduled for Friday. A muay victory will validate the sport as the prime source of gold medals for the Philippines. Billy Alumno, now a coach, first secured the Philippines' lone gold in the Games' inaugural two years ago in Bangkok. Featherweight Zaldy Laruan got only a bronze medal on Wednesday, because Thai betKwang Khwang Weerapon defeated Laruan by a unanimous decision But Philippine muay officials were unconvinced of the Thai's victory, and Philippine muay head of delegation Col. Antonio Mendoza appealed the decision. The muay appeals panel did not reach a decision on the Philippine protest on Thursday, despite Thai officials agreeing to overturn the five judges' verdict, provided the decision is signed by Robert Valdez, the Filipino chairman of the muay protest committee. Valdez is also the president of the Muay Association of the Philippines (MAP). Due to the protest, the Philippines remained with just a bronze medal in the official tally-that which Catherine Perena won last Saturday in the women's individual rapid chess. Laruan's bronze is yet to be counted officially. The report added that only China was making a headway in the official medals tally, winning in almost all fronts to hike its haul to 36 gold, 19 silver and 17 bronze medals as the Chinese made the event their own party place. Other games In sepak takraw, Danilo Alipan (80), Harrison Castanares (130), Joel Carbonilla (110), Hector Mermarion (70), and Metodio Suico Jr. (150) advanced into the semifinals with their total 530 points, which was eclipsed only by Myanmar 670) and Indonesia (580). Philippine Amateur Sepak Takraw Association (PASTA) president Mario Tanchanco reported his team is already assured of the bronze medal in the event. The men's bowlers bombed out big time in the Team of Four. Chester King (592), Raoul Miranda (613), Markwin Tee (516), and Ernesto Gatchalian (622) totaled 2,343 in three games to place 11th in 14 squads that was not enough for them to get through the second block. Some hopes, however, continue to spark in the women's front with Josephine Canare, Holly Angela Josef, Marianne Daisy Posadas, and Liza Clutario running fourth in the second preliminaries of the distaff side. The good news came from Danny Santos, a Filipino technical official for bowling, although no official results have been made available yet as of this posting. The women's quartet fared well in the first preliminaries,m with Canare scoring 627, Josef 571, Posadas 550, and Clutario 569 for a total 2317 that placed them in sixth place and through the next block for a possible shot at a medal. Not even a late 2.5-1.5 victory by the Filipino chessers over Iran could qualify them for the medal rounds, although alternate player Chardine Camacho posted an impressive victory over Teleghani Shayesteh Ghaderpour, as well as Ronald Bancod over Toufighi Tamijani Homayoon. Catherine Perena could only secure a draw with Mitra Hejazipur while International Master Wesley So vowed to Ehsan Gnammaghani as the Philippines scored 4.5 points in six matches. The woodpushers will gun for a medal on Friday in the blitz. The swimmers, all neophytes in an international tournament, weren't impressive as well. Bianca Elinor Uy could only managed 31.81 seconds in the women's 50-meter butterfly, far from the low 27s submitted by the leaders, while brother Evan Bryan Uy (27.29) and Jan Michael Chiu (26.55) were also miles away from the 24s that topped the men's race. The trio, all coming from the Ateneo team in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and part of the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association's (PASA) pool of young swimmers, also submitted slow times in the men's and women's 200 freestyle heats. PASA president Mark Joseph, however, said the exposure would tell much in their future swims. "It's like building their character here and seeing where they will go in the future," Joseph said. In women's lead climbing, Maria Camille Venturina scored a 12, while Kimberly Singson had 11 to make it to the semifinals. - GMANews.TV