PH kickboxing team modest about SEA Games chances

Members of the Philippine kickboxing team at the PSA Forum. PSA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine kickboxing team is letting its performance do the talking when it makes its debut in the coming Southeast Asian Games next month.

Samahang Kickboxing ng Pilipinas secretary-general Atty. Wharton Chan is managing his expectations but is confident enough that the eight-man Filipino squad competing from Dec. 6 to 10 have what it takes to deliver.

“As much as we want to be confident, we also want to be modest. Our assessment for the SEA Games is that everyone would be a medalist,” Chan said during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday at Amelie Hotel Manila.

“We hope and pray each and every athlete would be successful in their respective categories. Let’s just focus more on promoting the sport as well as giving these athletes the break [they needed].”

Apart from Chan, among the members of the PH kickboxing team present in the session were Ruel Catalan (57 kg), Karol Maguide (51 kg), Jerry Olsim (69 kg), and Rex De Lara (60 kg) along with boxing coach Glenn Mondol.

Completing the squad that will compete in full contact, low kick, and kick light are Jomar Balaguid (54 kg), Jean Claude Saclag (63 kg), and the women duo of Renz Daquel (48 kg) and Gina Iniong (55 kg).

The PH kickboxing team is trained by two-time Olympian Donald Geisler and Mark Sangiao of the famed Team Lakay, which has produced wushu and mixed martial arts champions.

Expected to give the Filipinos a run for the gold are regional power Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos and Vietnam.

The national team held its training camp in the high mountains of La Trinidad, Benguet, while also getting foreign exposures in Taiwan and Cambodia, where it just recently arrived.

The team is expected to travel back to Baguio for its final weight training before going back to Manila in time for the SEA Games.