Dimla breaks long spell in pencak

Cebuano standout Marniel Dimla broke the spell that haunted the Philippine pencak silat team by more than a decade, snatching the first ever gold medal in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

Dimla captured the gold medal in front of his fellow Cebuanos as the municipality of Ginatilan native ruled the 70-75 kgs. division tanding event over champion Dinh Cong Son of Vietnam.

The 32-year old Dimla, a member of the Philippine Air Force, saved RP’s day as the highly-favored Christopher Yabut and Annaliza Bea finished with silver medals.

In his third meeting with Dinh, Dimla finally stopped the dominance of the three-time SEAG champion, registering an impressive 4-1 score.

Dimla showed aggressiveness in the entire three-round bout, finding the right timing in the second when he scored a reverse sweep to put down Dinh.

Earlier, Dimla unleashed a flurry of punches, which hit Dinh on the left eye.

Dimla connected another sweep in the final round to floor Dinh again which drew loud cheers from the spectators.

"I concentrated on the kick, I attacked him in the second round when I noticed he had an injury, " said Dimla, who started as RP developmental pool member in 1993 and got into the elite squad in 1996.

Earlier, Yabut lost to first-time SEAG campaigner Tran Van Toan of Vietnam in the men’s 50-55kg. He was floored thrice, one in each round paving for the 5-0 victory of Tran.

Bea, a school-teacher at De La Salle University, was foiled in the women’s 50-55kgs, bowing to Vietnam’s Hyun Thi Thu Hong of Vietnam.

The Philippines ended its bid with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals. — Manny Villaruel