Kiyomi Watanabe pins down first silver

Women’s power on show in judo, equestrian, squash

JAKARTA – The Philippines found another wonder woman from its 272-strong roster in Fil-Japanese judoka Kiyomi Watanabe, who put up a tough fight against world No. 3 Nami Nabekura before settling for the silver medal in the 18th Asian Games here last night.

Watanabe, producing a very first medal for Phl judo in the Asiad, was an addition to Phl’s Woman Power that has been the contingent’s tremendous source of energy, pride and joy in the Jakarta/Palembang Games.

With two full days of action to go before the closing ceremonies Sunday, the Philippine flag is waving proudly in the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium with the contingent flashing a tally of four gold, one silver and 13 bronze medals in the medal board.

Team Phl remains well on course towards possibly surpassing the country’s four-gold medal feat in 1978 in Bangkok, in 1984 in Seoul and 2006 in Doha with three prized pugs to climb the ring in the boxing semifinals today.

Boxing secretary general Ed Picson said Rogen Ladon, Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial are all potentials to go all the way to win the gold.

As Watanabe missed the gold and settled for the contingent’s first silver medal, Team Phl stayed right behind Southeast Asian rivals Malaysia (5-11-9)  and Vietnam (4-15-16) in the medal race.

Indonesia was safely in front, fourth in the overall tally at 30-23-37 while Thailand was also looking a cinch for second among the SEA teams with nine gold, 13 silver and 36 bronze medals.

China was pulling away from the rest of the field at 111-75-53 while second-running Japan (59-49-65) had a safe lead over third-running Korea (39-46-55).

In a duel of old rivals in Japan, Nabekura took a pair of Waza-aris to snuff out Watanabe’s Asiad golden hopes.

“Everyday is a challenge. My opponents are all strong. I must admit I got a little nervous (in the gold-medal match against Nabekura),” said Watanabe in halting English.

 Still, Watanabe had a shining performance that was a big improvement from her mere ninth-place finish in Incheon in 2014.

She booted out Orapin Sentham of Thailand by ippon in the quarterfinals then eased out Mongolia’s Gankrainch Bold also by ippon in the semifinals to line herself up for a shot at becoming another Cebuana gold-medal winner here after skateboarding champ Margie Didal.

Watanabe, the 22-year-old three-time SEA Games gold medal winner, traces her roots in Cebu, the ancestral home of  her mother Irene.

But the gold wasn’t to be for Watanabe, who’s now training her sights on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. She lost to Nabekura, 0-10 on takedowns.

Watanabe and Nabekura were said to be old rivals, splitting four matches before their gold-medal fight here. Before the Asiad, the Fil-Japanese was named MVP in the 2018 All-Japan University Championships, representing Wasada U in Tokyo.

Four other Phl judokas saw action in the day with one – another KL SEA Games -70kg gold medal winner Mariya Takahashi – reaching the quarterfinals.

Takahashi dropped her quarterfinal match against Korean Kim Seongyeon via ippon and eventually moved out of the medal fight in losing her repechage match against Mongolia’s Naranjargal Tsend Ayush (ippon).

With much promise only at 17, Takahashi made the quarterfinals in stopping Thai Surattana Thonsri (ippon).

Keisei Nakano, a bronze medalist in the last SEAG like his twin brother Shugen, disposed of Jordanian Eyal Salman Younis by waza-ari in the first round of men’s -73kg before kissing his Asiad dream goodbye in a loss by ippon to Iranian Barimanlou Mohammadi.

Megumi Kurayoshi was beaten in her first match by Hong Kong’s Leoung Po Sum (ippon).

The Philippine’s “women’s power“ was also felt in equestrian over at the Jakarta International Park with Toni Leviste narrowly missing the Top 10 in individual jumping aboard Maximillian with a score of 16.5.

Another lady rider Joker Arroyo, atop Ubama Alia, finished 17th out of 61 finalists at 30.52.

A third Phl rider in Chiara Sophia Amor, a newcomer at 20, failed to make it past the qualifying round.

Middle East riders fought it out for the medals with Kuwait’s Ali Alkhorafi taking the gold in a near perfect ride (1.06), Qatar’s Ali Althani the silver at 2.2 and Saudi Arabia’s Ramzy Hamad Alduhami the bronze at 5.00.

It’s also women’s day for the Philippines in squash as the ladies team crushed Pakistan, 2-1, in Pool A.

In table tennis, Jann Mari Nayre blanked Yemen’s Ebrahim Abdulhakim Mohammed Gubran, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5, in men’s singles round of 16.

In kurash, Jason Balabal bowed to Turkmenistan’s Guvanch Begalivey, 0-10, in the -90kg round of 16 while Jann Mari Nayre topped E. A. M. Gubraman of Yemen, 11-15, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5 in the  round of 64 of men’s singles.

Meanwhile, in South Sumatra’s capital city of Palembang, Claire Adorna and Kim Mangrobang see action first for the six-strong Phl triathlon team in the elite women starting at 7:30 p.m. today.

Nikko Huelgas and John Chicano compete in the elite men also starting at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the grueling sport covering 1.5-kilometer swim, 50km bike and 10km run.

Kim Kilgroe and Mark Hosana, on the other hand, will team up with two from among Adorna, Mangrobang, Huelgas and Chicano in the mixed team relay on Sunday. The relay, a new addition to the Asiad triathlon, covers 300m swim, 6.7km bike, 1.95 run for the third athlete and 1.78km run for the fourth bet.