PH bags 4 golds in Asian Kickboxing

JOVAN MEDALLO performed his best while three fellow warriors stood tall over their respective counterparts to capture gold medal each in the 2022 Asian Kickboxing Championships over the weekend at the Bangkok Youth Center in Thailand.

Jovan Medallo CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Medallo of Cebu City captured the country's first gold medal in the Asian competition by ruling the senior men's musical forms with weapons gold medal with a score of 28.8 points while Taiwan's Hsuan Wu Chi got the silver after tallying 27.8 and Chiu Ta-Ting also of Taiwan settled for bronze with 25.7 points.

“I would like to thank Samahang Kickboxing ng Pilipinas (SKP) for motivating me since from the start and helping me to be at my best,” the 22-year-old farmer from Cebu said, who used nunchucks during the competition. “It feels so good to win for your country.”

Back-to-back Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Jean Claude Saclag blasted hometown bet Chaleamlap Santidongsakun, 3-0, in the finale to take home the men's low kick -63.5 kg gold medal despite the hostile crowd.

Renalyn Dacquel also made a short work of her hometown opponent — Nitinat Plabplerng — to score a 3-0 win and win the women's low kick -48 kg gold medal while double Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Gina Iniong Araos beat Hsiao Hsin Chi of Chinese-Taipei, 3-0, to cop the women's low kick -60 kg gold.

“It's a momentous week, and I'm very, very proud of our fighters for bringing home gold medals,” SKP Secretary General Wharton Chan said, who also thanked SKP president Sen. Francis Tolentino for his all-out support.

“Thankful to our president and senator Tol Tolentino for inspiring our kickboxers all the time.”

Besides the four gold medals, the Philippine contingent composed of 14 kickboxers also bagged one silver and six bronze medals. The Asian Championships is a qualifier to the world championships to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.