Kram Airam Carpio ensured the country of a first medal in the 3rd Asian Youth Games by overpowering Indian Sakshi Thakur, 83-17, in pencak silat over the weekend at the Exhibition World Bahrain here.
That triumph assured the Asian Championship silver medalist of at least a bronze and possibly better if she hurdles Kazakh Aliyam Azizova in their girls’ 51 to 55-kilogram semifinal.
Earlier, Carpio dumped Iranian Nazaninfatemeh Kolasangiani, 36-22, in the round-of-16 of the sport that is in its debut in this quadrennial meet for athletes aged 14 to 17 years.
Also jump-starting the campaign of the 141-strong Philippine squad was Alas Pilipinas, which shell-shocked regional powerhouse South Korea, 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-10, at the Hall B of the Isa Sports City Sunday.
The Filipinas, represented mostly by the country’s undisputed high school champion National University, shoot for a Group D sweep and outright quarterfinal qualification as they battle the Thais, their SEA rivals, today.
Early results weren’t all roses as Jelou Eluna, the country’s only other pencak silat entry, and kurash’s Elijah Mendoza and Syrine Mae Bacani all fell by the wayside.
Eluna succumbed to Muhammad Raqib Darwisy of Uzbekistan, 40-13, in the boys’ 59-63 kg division.
Mendoza and Bacani, for their part, were shown the door by Tajikistan’s Abubar Turaev in the boys’ -65kg class, 10-0, and Iran’s Mahsa Barzegar in the girls’ -70kg section, 10-0, respectively, at the Gilam A.