Boxers sustain winning streak; Big debut for lady fighter Albania

GUANGZHOU, CHINA—Annie Albania provided a big spark on a
quiet day for the Philippines, landing punches in a spectacular flurry to crush
Zhaina Shekerbekova of Kazakhstan, 9-2 in the 48 to 51 kg division of the
women’s boxing competitions in the 16th Asian Games Sunday.            

The
28-year-old Albania provided the highlight at the Foshan Gymnasium, unleashing
two- and three-punch combinations that made her Kazakh foe face two standing
eight counts.

“She’s
really a fighter,” said boxing association executive director Ed Picson. “She
wants redemption because she feels that she didn’t perform that well in the
World Championships.”

Albania
crashed out in the first round of the World Championships in Barbados last year
but right from the opening bell, it was clear she would do the overwhelming
this time around.

Late
Saturday night, Wilfredo Lopez (69 kgs) also reached the quarterfinals in the
men’s 69 kg division. Boxing thus has three quarterfinalists in Lopez, Albania
and Vic Saludar while has a semifinalist in Rey Saludar, who assured himself of
at least a bronze with a spectacular referee-stopped contest against Nepal’s
Puran Rai Saturday.

Arnel
Ferrera kicked off the athletics team’s bid Sunday by going up against a tough
12-man field in the finals of the men’s hammer throw. Ferrera struggled early
and was way beyond the leaders after his initial attempts. At press time, his
best throw was at 58.06m.

Currently
leading the pack was Tajikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov (74.78m).

The
Philippines faced a light schedule Sunday, with very little likewise coming out
of it.

The
country was still stuck at two golds, two silvers and eight bronzes and lost
traction in the race among Southeast Asian nations. In a span of just a day,
with victories in dragonboat and taekwondo, Thailand zoomed to seven gold
medals to lead the SEA Games countries. Malaysia has five and Indonesia has
four.

“We still
have boxing and hopefully, karate and wrestling,” said Philippine team chief of
mission Joey Romasanta. “There might be medals there.”

In wrestling, however, Margarito Agana caught a bad break
and was injured near the end of his 55 kg match against Iraq’s Mohammad
Alsaedi. Agana was leading, 3-2, before the fight was stopped.

The
delegation faced a rush of injuries recently, notably taekwondo, whose two
jins—Tshomlee Go and Paul Romero—may require surgery after returning to Manila.

But Dr.
Martin Camara, part of the Philippine medical team here, said there was little
else to worry about from athletes still to see action.

“A lot of
the cases we get here are micro injuries that are the regular ones we get
post-competition,” said Camara. “They’re not really debilitating.”

In bowling, one of the events still being
counted on to deliver medals, the country crashed out of the race in the men’s
team of five, as Chester King, Benshir Layoso, Raoul Miranda, Frederick Ong and
singles gold medalist Biboy Rivera could only muster a 2994.

The team
finished 361 pins below pacesetting Malaysia’s 3355.

The
Philippine delegation heard mass in the midmorning Sunday, where the taekwondo
jins offered their souvenir bouquets from the awarding ceremonies to the church.

“It was a
touching gesture from the team,” said Romasanta. “People normally bring home
these souvenirs but they decided to just offer it as a way of saying thanks.”

China
continued to lead the overall medal tally with 145 gold medals and 69 each in
bronze and silver. Korea continued pulling away in the “other championship” by
garnering 53 gold medals against rival Japan, which had 30 at press time.

Meanwhile,
the Philippine Olympic Committee announced that it has been awarded hosting
rights for the 2013 Asian Beach Games by the Olympic Council of Asia.

Sheikh Ahmad gave the guarantee to Philippine Olympic
Committee President Jose Cojuangco Jr. in a brief meeting with Philippine
delegation officials here.

“The Sheikh was very kind in allowing us to host the Asian
Beach Games on 2013 should we feel we are ready by 2013,” Cojuangco said in a
press rstatement.

Cojuangco also announced the Manny Pacquiao’s conditioning
coach Alex Ariza will help plot the country’s preparations for the 2012 London
Olympics. The POC told the Inquirer that Ariza is due probably around February
to begin his study of the Filipino athletes so he can begin drawing up a
conditioning and nutritional program for the squad.

Pacquiao,
who has had Ariza in his employ since the David Diaz fight, was instrumental in
getting the Colombian to agree to help Team Philippines.

Cojuangco
said Ariza will deal with elite athletes first and then coaches will filter
down what they learn from the conditioning mentor to the other athletes.

“This will
really be a big help to the country’s Olympic efforts,” said Cojuangco.