Paalam advances to gold medal round

In almost the same manner he beat his China’s Zhang Jiamao in the quarters, Paalam used his smarts and vast experience to pull off a thrilling 3-2 win over Kazakhstan’s Makhmud Sabyrkhan to advance to the gold medal round of the men’s 55kg division at the Nishio Gymnasium.

This guaranteed Paalam a silver medal in the continental showpiece, where the country is targeting at least eight gold medals, doubling the 4-gold haul during the Hangzhou Games three years ago.

Paalam will next face Japan’s Rui Yamaguchi in the finals on Friday, Oct. 2, with boxing head Marcus Manalo expressing confidence that the pride Cagayan de Oro will go all the way to end the country’s 16-year gold medal drought since Rey Saludar triumphed in the Guangzhou Games.

Determined to complete his glorious comeback after a year-long recovery from injury, Paalam, 25, is looking for someone to mobilize a prayer army for him.

“Please support me,” said Paalam, “Sana po ipagdasal niyo kami at makuha natin yung gold medal.”

Though the Japanese fighter is definitely no pushover following his impressive victories at the World Boxing Cup and Asian Elite Championships, coach Elmer Pamisa is convinced that Paalam holds an ace come their big showdown.

Meantime, Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Terry Capistrano expressed delight on the association’s three-medal haul, including the gold medal win by pole vault ace EJ Obiena on rainy Tuesday night.

“The future is bright. We have quite a number of athletes who have shown their might,” said Capistrano. “You now have a team that you can seriously say has stepped to another level.”

Supported by Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission, the beach volleyball duo of Khylem Harl Progella and Sofia Shanine Pagara started the day right for Team Philippines after outlasting the Japanese pair of Non Matsumoto and Ren Matsumoto, 24-22, 22-20, to advance to the semifinal round.

But after that, a deluge of heartbreaking defeats cascaded – none bigger and more shocking than the one suffered by the Sibol Mobile Legends: Bang Bang team in the quarterfinals of the esports event.

Trumpeted as the greatest team ever assembled, Sibol fell to chief rival Indonesia, 1-2, in a defeat that reverberated through the Aichi Sky Expo.

The celebrated duo of Sisi Rondina and Bernadette Pons also fell by wayside in the other quarterfinal match, losing to Thailand’s Taravadee Naraphornrapat and Worapeerachayakorn Kongphosarutawadee, 17-21, 21-12, 13-15.

Interestingly, Progella and Pagara will be facing the Thais in the semis, which is just good for Pons and Rondina.

“We were almost there, pero bumitaw pa kami, unforced errors again. Malungkot pero at the same time grateful kami nakarating kami dito,” said Rondina. “We will pray na makabawi sila (Progella and Pagara) para sa amin,” said Rondina.

For Pagara, the win was doubly sweet as she overcame the second day of her period to survive the spirited challenge of their Japanese opponents.

“Masakit ang puson ko, kasi second day ng period ko, pero di ko na inisip yun, basta laro lang talaga. Buti nanalo kami,” said Pagara.

Meanwhile, Alas Pilipinas Men try to salvage some measure of pride when they begin their campaign against the dangerous Indonesian side in the classification round, where they can finish as high as 9thor as low as 16th.

In tennis, the duo of Stefi Aludo and Tennielle Madis ended their campaign with a second round defeat to Chinese-Taipei bets, 3-6, 1-6.

Judo got off to a slow start, with Darryl John Mercado (men’s 60kg) and Keisei Nakano (men’s 66kg) losing their Round of 16 matches. — Rey Virgilio Lachica