Delegation co-flag bearer Leo Mhar Lobrido is proving he’s not just a symbolic leader but a genuine contender for the Philippine team in the Asian Youth Games.
The cheerful fighter from Bago City overcame a brief scare from Sri Lanka’s Binul Dulnada Dewasiri Narayana in the third round of their light flyweight quarterfinal bout in the boxing competition at the Exhibition World Bahrain (EWB) on Sunday.
The Sri Lankan turned up the pressure in the third round after being dominated in the first two, briefly trapping the young Filipino near the ropes and limiting his movement against a flurry of wild attacks.
Lobrido, who turned 16 earlier this month, managed to recover, thanks to cheers from the small Filipino contingent at the stands, and went on to win, 5-0, and assure the Philippines of at least another bronze.
Lobrido is considered the best bet among the Filipino pugs, having ruled the Fourth Greater Area Bay Youth Boxing Challenge in Shenzhen, China, last year.
Back in contention
EMMANUEL PACULBA and Jacob Quindo recovered from early setbacks in the table tennis competition, also at EWB.
Paculba defeated Ali Alhawai of the United Arab Emirates, 11-7, 8-11, 11-13, 11-4, 11-5, to even his mark.
The 16-year-old Paculba couldn’t sustain momentum in his opening match against Iran’s Mobin Amiri, 11-5, 8-11, 12-14, 9-11.
Quindo bounced back in boys’ singles table tennis, holding off Syria’s Ammar Alkassab, 14-12, 11-8, 5-11, 5-11, 11-7, after a losing to China’s Tang Yiren, 6-11, 4-11, 5-11, in his opener.
John Marin suffered a second straight loss in the boys’ singles, dropping his match against Sarthak Arya of India, 8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11.
The 14-year-old Marin earlier bowed to Man William of Hong Kong, 10-12, 9-11, 11-13.
Marin and Jannaj Alarcon were stopped in the mixed doubles Round of 32 by Kazakhstan’s Bakdaulet Saurbay and Darya Fu in the Round of 32. The Philippine pair swept Mongolia’s Turmunkh Dugersuren and Enkhjin Tuvshinbayar, 11-7, 12-10, 11-3.
CJ Cabreros wound up 10th in the Individual Time Trial in road cycling, finishing the 16.6 kilometer race in 23 minutes and 6.39 seconds.
The 16-year-old Filipino averaged 43.105 kilometers per hour but still finished one minute an 20.74 seconds off the pace in the 22-rider field.
China’s Zhang Qiaochu bagged the gold with a time of 21:45.65, Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Chih-hsiang was 1.99 seconds behind for silver and Thailand’s Kittaphat Homkajorn bagged bronze, 4.74 seconds behind.
Weightlifting
bronze medals
PRINCESS JAY ANN DIAZ earned the bronze in the clean and jerk of the girls’ 44-kg class.
Niece of Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz, the 17-year-old Princess Jay Ann made it to the podium with a 78kg lift on Sunday.
India’s Bhoi Priteesmita bagged gold with a world youth record 92kg lift, while China’s Wu Jihong lifted 88kg for silver.
Jay-r Colonia bagged bronze in the boys’ 56kg clean and jerk with a 137kg lift. Jiang Jinfu of China topped the event with a new Asian Youth record of 141kg, while Al Ojaian M Mohammed Nawaf of Saudi Arabia claimed silver with 138kg.
Boxer Shairylle Pores bowed out at the quarterfinal stage, however, as Chen Fang-yu of Chinese Taipei scored a 5-0 victory in the girls’ 46kg class.
Alas Pilipinas in semis
ALAS PILIPINAS is gearing up for a podium finish.
The Philippine girls’ volleyball team secured a Final Four berth by eliminating Chinese Taipei, 25-16, 20-25, 25-16, 25-18, in front of a huge Sunday crowd at Isa Sports City.
They face unbeaten Iran in the semifinals, but Rihanna Cris Navarro said the team is determined to win.
‘If we rate it from 1 to 10, we say it’s 10. It’s because we believe we can and we’re doing this for the country,’ Navarro said. ‘We worked hard for this especially it was a knockout match . we really need to get to the top four to get the gold.’