Boxing & Karatedo End Philippines’ Gold Medal Drought in SEA Games

PHILIPPINES UPDATED. After two consecutive days without winning a single gold medal, Philippine boxing and karatedo teams end the gold medal drought in the 27th Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar, winning four gold medals today.

Boxer Jovie Gabuco started the medal haul by ruling the women’s light flyweight division in a majority decision win over Indonesia’s Beatrix Suguro.

Read more: pinoyheadline.com

Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga then delivered the second gold by overpowering Konelis Kwangu Langu of Indonesia in the 49kg class, followed by Mario Fernandez who shut-out Thailand’s Donchai Tathi also in a unanimous decision, in the bantamweight division.

Karaeka Ramon Antonio Franco sneaked in another gold medal in the men’s individual kumite -55 kg, to add up the gold medal haul to four.

Franco beat Brunei’s Muhammad Fadaiy Sanif, 8-6, in the finals to win Karatedo’s first gold in this year’s SEA Games.

Coming close to a golden finish today are boxers Junel Cantanioc (60kg), Dennis Galvan (64kg), Wilfredo Lopez (75kg) and Nesthy Petecion (57kg) who all lost their final bouts and settled for silver.

Mae Soriano, one of the gold medal prospects of the Karatedo team, also settled for silver after loosing in a very close fight for the gold in the women’s individual kumite 55kg.

Another gold medal hopeful and defending champion, Rubilen Amit also lost the women’s 9-ball gold to Indonesia’s Magdalena Ticoalu in a lopsided finals, 7-2; while compatriot Efren Bata Reyes and Francisco delos Reyes both lost their semifinal battles in the men’s 1 Cushion Carom Single and settled for bronze.

Adding more medals for Philippines are Jasmine Alkhaldi (100m Butterfly), Joanna Mae Ylanan (Individual Kumite 68kg), and Rogelio Antonio Jr. (international individual blitz), who contributed a bronze medal each.

Woodpushers Mark Paragua, Janelle Mae Frayna and Catherine Perena failed to medal today in the international individual blitz chess event, so as the lone biker seeing action today, Joey Barba who placed 5th in the Men’s Mountain Bike Down Hill 1.5km finals with a time of 2:29.505.

Sinag Pilipinas beat Indonesia, 83-52, and is set to face Malaysia today to formalize their gold medal win.

Archers were off to a good start at the men’s compound individual qualification in he afternoon where Earl Benjamine Yap placed 2nd, Delfin Anthony Adriano in 5th, Ian Patrick Chipeco in 11th, and Jose Ferdinand Adriano in 20th position.

Team Philippines ended today’s action with 3 gold, 6 silver and 8 bronze medals.

 

Karate Squad Captures Two Gold Medals

MALAYSIA UPDATED. The national karate squad performed well to contribute two gold, one silver and two bronze medals when karate event in the Myanmar SEA Games opened at the Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium here, Friday.

Lim Chee Wei was the toast of the team when he secured two gold medals, in the kata individual and team events.
 
In the men's kata individual final, Lim routed Min Hein Khant of Myanmar 5-0. The bronze was awarded to Faizan Zainuddin of Indonesia and Vongphachan Amkha of Laos.
 
Earlier, in the quarter-finals, Lim had beaten Le Xuan Hung of Vietnam before overcoming Vongphachan in the semi-finals, winning both bouts 5-0.
 
The achievement helped raise the spirit of the national kata team comprising Leong Tze Wai and Emmanuel Leong Thengkeong to take the gold in the team event of the same.
 
Despite facing a vociferous home crowd, the national team showed consistence to defeat Myanmar 4-1.
 
When met by reporters, Lim said he did not expect to collect two gold medals as his target was one gold medal.
 
In another event, Malaysia missed another gold medal when G. Theebaan lost 0-1 to Indonesia's Umar Syarief in the men's individual kumite 84kg and above category.
 
The bronze medal went to Sutthichai Takhieo of Thailand and Vietnam's Pham Quang Duy.
 
Meanwhile, Jamaliah Jamaludin won two bronze medals through the women's individual kumite 68kg and above category and the women's team kata event.
bernama.com

Captain Kunasilan Feels Burden of SEA Games Expectation

MALAYSIA UPDATED. Karate exponent L. Kunasilan has received some good news – with a month to go before the Myanmar SEA Games.
 
He has been entrusted with captaining the karate squad for next month’s SEA Games – but it will come with heavy expectations. 

Not only has karate been tasked with delivering five gold medals, Kunasilan will be under pressure to maintain Malaysia’s good tradition in the kumite below 55kg event. 

Kunasilan is fighting in the below 55kg category for the first time in an event where Malaysian exponents have always prevailed since the 1997 Jakarta SEA Games. 

C. Muralitharan bagged gold in that category then, before going on to win an Asian Games gold medal the following year.

It was then R. Puvaneswaran’s turn to taste glory in Brunei (1999), Kuala Lumpur (2001), Korat (2007) and Laos (2009) before he called it a day.
Loganeshaa Rao stepped up to the challenge in Jakarta two years ago and was successful in his maiden SEA Games outing.

Loganeshaa has since retired due to injuries and Kunasilan has now been tasked to keep the gold in Malaysian hands. 

Kunasilan, who won the SEA Games gold in the below 60kg category in his debut in Manila in 2005, admitted that the weight of expectation is proving too much of a burden.

“I will be up against Indonesian and Vietnamese fighters who are determined to keep us from winning. As the captain, I have the responsibility to lead the team to glory and motivate the younger ones.

“It is not easy but I know I have to be ready to fight and beat anyone to become the champion,” said the 28-year-old exponent from Ipoh, who will be making his fifth SEA Games appearance. 

Kunasilan, who is also the 2006 Asian Games silver medallist, will also be fighting in the team event in what could be his last SEA Games appearance.
However Kunasilan, who retained his national title in Kuala Lumpur last month, is not thinking about that yet.

“My focus now is on doing well at the SEA Games. After that, I’ll think about my future,” said Kunasilan, who finished with a bronze at the last SEA Games.
Karate, despite missing three of its SEA Games gold medallists from Indonesia, are targeted to bring home five gold medals from Myanmar.

Shaharudin Jamaludin is the only winner from Indonesia fighting in Myanmar, with G. Yamini also following in the footsteps of Loganeshaa in retiring while K. Teagarajan was not selected.
thestar.com.my
.

Karate Indonesia Datangkan Pelatih Asing asal Spanyol

INDONESIA UPDATED. Timnas Karate Indonesia ditargetkan untuk bisa meraih gelar juara umum pada SEA Games 2013, Myanmar. Demi mencapai target tersebut, Pengurus Besar Federasi Olahraga Karate-Do Indonesia mendatangkan pelatih asing asal Spanyol, Juan Luis Benitez.

Benitez dikontrak oleh FORKI hingga perhelatan SEA Games usai. Diharapkan, dengan kehadiran Benitez di kursi kepelatihan timnas karate Indonesia, performa para atlet bisa lebih meningkat.

Pria kelahiran Las Palmas tersebut diplot oleh FORKI sebagai pelatih di nomor kumite. Memang pada nomor ini, banyak peraturan baru yang dikembangkan oleh Federasi Induk Karate Dunia (WKF). Seringkali, karateka-karateka Indonesia belum bisa mengaplikasikan peraturan tersebut.

"Benitez sudah lama melatih di Eropa. Dia tahu perkembangan peraturan yang ada di WKF. Sebenarnya atlet-atlet kita mengerti tentang aturan yang ada, tapi aplikasinya belum terlalu bagus," kata Ketua PB FORKI, Hendardji Soepandji.

"Peraturan mengenai poin adalah yang penting. Para atlet kita sering mengandalkan tangan sebagai senjata, poinnya hanya satu. Tapi kalau pakai kaki, poinnya bisa dua atau tiga. Ini yang kita maksimalkan," sambung dia.

Dijelaskan oleh Benitez, karateka-karateka Indonesia memang harus memaksimalkan strategi bertanding mereka di nomor kumite. Selama ini, Benitez melihat atlet-atlet kumite Indonesia memiliki kelebihan dari segi kecepatan.

"Dalam kemampuan pukulan mereka memiliki kecepatan yang bagus. Tapi, saya berusaha untuk bisa memperkaya pola serangan mereka. Jika bisa mengombinasikan serangan dan kaki, mereka akan semakin lengkap," beber Benitez.

Sejauh ini timnas karate Indonesia telah melakukan uji coba di beberapa kejuaraan. terakhir, mereka melakukan try out lewat kejuaraan internasional di Finlandia.

Cabang karate sendiri menjadi andalan kontingen Indonesia dalam SEA Games 2011 silam. Mereka sukses merebut 10 medali emas dari 16 keping yang diperebutkan, dengan tambahan 2 perak dan 4 perunggu.
.