NAGOYA-Jean Claude ‘The Dynamite’ Saclag yielded to a monster grappler from Tajikistan and Kayla Sanchez touched the pad less than a tad short of a podium finish as the gold medal eluded the Philippines in the Aichi-Nagoya 20th Asian Games on Tuesday.
Thus, the Philippines had to settle for Saclag’s silver medal and a historic bronze from the women’s kata team in karate on the third day of competitions that saw China breaking away from the field with 31 gold medals.
Paris Olympics bronze medalist Aira Villegas also fell by the wayside in women’s 51 kgs of boxing after losing to Sakshi Chaudhary, a two-time world youth championships champion who was not only taller with a longer reach but also heftier.
‘It felt like three men were grappling me very tightly from the back,’ said Saclag, who had to settle for silver following a 0-3 loss to Otabek Rajabov in the final of the men’s -65 kgs class of mixed martial arts that is making its debut in the Asian Games.
Saclag actually started strong after flooring Rajabov with a solid punch to the chin early in the first round, but in MMA, a strike counts less that a superior ground strength that the Tajik had aplenty.
If it were a consolation, Rajabov admitted to Saclag at the end of the bout that he got rocked by the Filipino’s punches.
‘You hit me hard,’ the Tajik whispered to the Filipino before celebrating with his country’s flag around the mat.
Moments after Saclag fell short of winning a first gold, Sanchez just couldn’t match the tremendous speed her rivals displayed at the Tokyo Aquatics Center.
Sanchez finished a mere 18-tenths of a second behind bronze winner Yujie Cheng of China in the women’s 100 meters freestyle event won by Hong Kong-China’s Siobhan Haughey (52.45) with the illustrious Chinese, Yu Yiting, settling for silver (53.21).
The Olympian Sanchez was disappointed of her performance that she skipped the mandatory Mixed Zone interview.
‘Kayla put it all on the table. She went for it. And she had a really very solid performance,’ Sanchez’s Canadian coach Derrick Schoof told POC Media Pool. ‘It was a tough, we knew it was expected to be a tough battle between the two Chinese girls and she just came out on the wrong side of the touch.’
The silver was the second for Saclag in the Asian Games after his second-place finish in wushu’s sanda at the 2014 edition in Incheon.
Rebecca Cyril Torres, Samantha Veguillas and Ysabelle Arrogante beat Thailand’s Ramitar Terananon, Monsicha Sakulrattanatara and Phatcharin Plangplai, 4-1, for a first-ever medal in team kata event in the Asian Games for a 0-1-3 gold-silver-bronze tally for the Philippines-soft tennis contributed the first bronze last Sunday.
The under-23 team beat Kuwait, 2-1, also for the country’s first men’s football victory in the Asian Games since the Tokyo 1958 edition with forward Andres Aldeguer converting the clincher that was reminiscent of his great grandfather George Aldeguer’s winning goal against Japan in 1958.
The Gilas Pilipinas Women 3×3 squad also made its presence felt on Tuesday by going 2-0 won-lost following victories over powerhouse Mongolia, 17-12, and Macau, 21-4.
Double Olmpic champion Carlos Yulo and brother Karl Eldrew, on the other hand, lead the charge in the men’s team final of gymnastics on Wednesday.