By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno
MANILA — The Philippines came just close to netting a medal in Day 1 of its home stand in the Karate One – Youth League on Thursday at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Tagum City, Davao del Norte native AZ Pamaybay made it to the final phase of the repechage round in the cadet kumite male -57 kg division after stunning Artur Avakian, 8-7, to set a date against Uzbekistan’s Soibov Solijon.
With the match tied at 7-all with 0.9 seconds remaining, Pamaybay scored a quick yuko right at the final horn to eliminate Avakian.
However, Solijon won a tight 2-1 clash against Pamaybay in the final repechage match to capture the bronze medal after the former scored a late yuko to break a 1-all tie.
Solijon did not mind losing the first-point tiebreaker advantage due to excessive warnings as he defended himself properly from another possible clutch moment from Pamaybay.
“I’ll accept it because I don’t have any power to play there,” Pamaybay said after bowing to Solijon. “That loss is a very good lesson for me because I have to adapt to my mistakes.”
The Pamaybay-Solijon had to be interrupted for a few minutes due to a technical difficulty when the computerized scoreboard went off.
Pamaybay admitted the officials’ timeout somehow slowed him down.
“I wanted to end the fight quickly,” he said.
Following the lessons he got from facing world-class junior karatekas, Pamaybay shifts his focus to the Agusan del Sur Palarong Pambansa, where the incoming Grade 10 student will compete for Davao Region, and the Southeast Asian Karate Federation Championships, where he is the defending champion in his weight division. (PNA)
