By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno
MANILA – The Philippines came close to striking gold right on Day 1 of the Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships as Sophia Novino settled for silver in the youth women’s -47kg division.
Novino fell short in the final against Kazakh opponent Karakat Rakhybay, 8-1, on Thursday night at Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
Despite competing in a major sambo tournament for the first time, the 17-year-old University of the East senior high school judo standout proved her worth by scoring a takedown against Rakhybay to tie at 1-1.
However, Rakhybay showed why she was the silver medalist in last year’s World Youth and Junior Sambo Championships, reasserting her might with a go-ahead takedown that led to her first armbar submission attempt.
Novino got out of the armbar initially, but Rakhybay set up another armbar in her next takedown, and the Filipina bet tapped out with 20 seconds left.
Novino was proud of her accomplishment as she continues to work on her sambo game.
“Alam ko naman na marami pa akong ma-i-improve (I know that I still have a lot to improve on),” Novino said. “Big learning din ito (This is also a big learning) for upcoming tournaments.”
The home team amassed four total medals in Day 1 as three more female bets, Jennelyn Tuñacao, Tess Polistico and Princess Boyore, snagged a bronze each in the -72kg, -59kg, and -54kg weight classes.
“This is a good beginning for us in this tournament because the Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships is a tough competition and next only to the worlds,” national sambo team coach Ace Larida said.
“We can only look forward to doing better once we start competing in the senior division,” Larida said. (PNA)
