Karatekas good for bronze on opening day

The Filipino karatekas faltered in their gold medal hunt,and instead took three bronze medals in the opening action of the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games karatedo event witnessed by a mammoth crowd yesterday at the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex.

The RP men’s team manned by Bernard Chu, Ireneo Toribio, Joey Pabillore, Junel Perania, and Cebuano Sugar Rey Metante handed the country’s first medal in the event after scuttling Brunei Darussalam’s Mohamad Sofian Abdullah, Tong Kit Siong, HJ Eddie Haji Johari, and Sim Chung Hiang, 3-0, to settle for bronze.

"The Philippine team is strong, but they’re a bit tense playing before their hometown fans. We’ll try to bounce back in the individual events because that’s what we’re really looking forward too," said RP’s Italian coach Romano Guiseppi.

"I can’t predict how many golds we will win. We’ll just see after the SEA Games," added Guiseppei, a former world champion.

The men’s squad started off with a 3-1 victory over Thailand, but failed to advance into the finals after dropping a 1-3 decision to eventual champion Indonesia.

The highly-favored women’s squad of two-time SEAG gold medalist Gretchen Malalad, Chirley Tugday, and Mae Eso, suffered an unceremonious exit, losing its first match to Vietnam.

"We didn’t expect to lose early but we’ll come back in individual events," said Malalad.

Indonesia, composed of Christo Mondolu, Bambang Maulidin, Umar Syarief, Donny Dharmawan, and Ricky Syahbana, shut down Malaysia’s Kunasilan Lakanathan, Puvaneskwara Ramasamy, Lim Yoke Wai, Mahendran Supremaniam, Rayner Kinsiong, and Jarvis Anak Julian to clinch the gold.

It was a clean sweep by Indonesia as its women’s team, anchored on the sterling performances of Nuhrahmi, Jenny Zeannet, and Yessi Mariance, also claimed the gold by crushing Malaysia’s Vasantha Marial Anthony, Yamini Gopalasamy, Jamallia BT Jamalludin, and Lee Phei Sze.

Myanmar’s Yin Hua Thawng Luai, Daw Nan Saing Main, Myat Zar Chyi H. Laing, and Zin Myat Mon for the bronze.

In the women’s individual kata, Stepanie Lim won the bronze in her SEAG debut after defeating Indonesia’s Yulanti Syafrudin and Cambodia’s Sovan Ratanak in the repechage.

"I’m very happy. It’s worth the wait and training," said the 25-year-old Lim, who was booted out of the gold medal battle by Malaysia’s Lim Lee Lee, 2003 Vietnam SEAG silver medallist. Lee went on to win the gold by dethroning Vietnam’s Ngan.

Noel Espinosa delivered RP’s third bronze in karatedo after prevailing over Singapore’s TH Bin in the repecharge of the men’s individual kata. Espinosa barely advanced into the championship round with a hairline 2-3 loss to Indonesian Faisal Zainuddin.

Malaysia’s KJ Keat won his second straight SEAG gold via a 3-2 nail-biter over Zainuddin.

"Okay naman ang ating performance. This is the first time we won medals in kata competition since 2000. This is a very good indication that we’re on the right track at pa-improve yung status natin sa karatedo," said RP coach Juan Carlos "Chino" Veguillas.

The RP karatekas hope to haul golds as they plunge into action in the individual events today, with Joey Pabillore seeing action in the men’s kumite +70 kgs., Malalad in the women’s +60 kgs., Maria Marna Pabillore in the -53 kgs., Junel Perania in the -70 kgs., Sugar Rey Metante in the -75 kgs., and Tugday in the -60 kgs.