Wrestler Lobreguito gets PH going in Turkmenistan with bronze medal

ASHGABAT—Wrestler Alvin Lobreguito pocketed the first medal for the Philippines in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Lobreguito lost in the semifinals but was an automatic bronze winner since there were only four entries in his weight division.

Yakupnazar Yakubow of Turkmenistan pinned Lobreguito early in the first round to clinch victory by clear technical advantage, 4-0, and move on to the gold-medal match of the men’s freestyle -57kg.

Lobreguito, a Southeast Asian and Australasian wrestling tournament champion, will join fellow bronze medalist Faridun Qurbonov of Tajikistan after the latter lost his semifinal face-off with Allanur Gocow of host Turkmenistan.

Gocow forced an all-Turkmenistan finale with Yakubow following a convincing 4-0 win over Qurbonov before a wildly cheering crowd at Ashbagat Olympic Stadium’s main indoor arena.

Fellow PH grapplers Jhonny Morte, Noemi Tener and Grace Loberanes fell to their respective opponents in the quarterfinals.

Lobreguito will receive a cash incentive of P400,000 from the government for his medal.

A gold medal in this 62-country meet is worth P2 million while a silver is worth P1 million.

“We got unlucky during the draw. Most of our opponents are entries from the host country,” said wrestling coach Maria Cristina Vergara.

Dowletgeldi Berdiyew of host Turkemistan took down Morte in just two seconds of the opening round for a convincing 5-0 triumph in the men’s freestyle -68kg category.

Tener got pinned down twice by Ambreen Masih of Pakistan in just 21 seconds and crashed out of the women’s freestyle -58kg class. Loberanes lost her quarterfinal bout to Lacyn Badaglyyewa of Turkmenistan, 5-0, in the women’s freestyle -52kg division.