Muay expert cops RP’s first gold

MACAU – From bad boy to golden boy. The Philippines saw the quick transformation from lightwelterweight Ruben Zumido, who almost missed his trip to the Macau second Asian Indoor Games due to a suspension for punching a teammate in the face, as he revved up the country’s medal drive on Saturday by letting his pent up anger against a dangerous Thai.

Zumido, who looked on his way to losing the Philippines’ last chance at winning a gold medal, turned from meek to aggressive in the last two rounds to beat Metta Khetnok of Thailand to claim a hard-earned gold after two earlier failures by his teammates.

Zumido’s gold glittered among the Philippines’ two silver and three bronze medals, which were just fine in this competition among 45 nations. No other country won more than 10 gold medals here aside from China (59), Thailand (19), Hong Kong (15) and Korea (10).

The Philippines was No. 19 in the Top 20. Aside from the muay gold and silver medals, the Philippines also won a bronze each in chess, hoop sepak takraw and another one in muay.

The Philippines had the shot at two more gold medals earlier, but Roland Claro and Brent Velasco were dominated by a Hong Kongite and a Thai, respectively. Chan Kai Tik of Hong Kong floored Claro in their flyweight match many times to win via unanimous decision.

Supachai Payunhan of Thailand, meanwhile, also denied Velasco of the gold, posting another unanimous victory in their bantamweight final clash.