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| Aislynn Yap won a tight showdown against Zamzagul Faizollanova to finish the Philippines' AOSC home stand with three golds. PSC Media Pool |
MANILA—Filipino fighters finished with a flourish, adding a third and final gold from Aislinn Agnes Yap to cap a highly fruitful local campaign in the 11th Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships presented by the Philippine Sports Commission on Sunday.
In front of animated hometown fans at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Yap took down bull-strong Zamzagul Faizollanova of Kazakhstan midway into their match to fashion a close 1-0 decision in retaining her women's -80-kilogram combat sambo crown.
Yap's pin-down of the five-time Kazakhstan national champion was placed under protest by her camp, but a review of the tape by technical officials upheld the previous decision.
It was a third mint for the hosts after national team members Jomary Torres and Aumagel Princess Cortez ruled their respective divisions the previous night in the meet held under the auspices of the National Sports Tourism Interagency Committee led by PSC Chairman Patrick Gregorio.
The fourth silver for the country came on Sunday courtesy of national team newcomer Jasmaine Henryk Ching, who lost by submission to Kazakhstan's Gulo Almukhanbetova in the women's -54kg sport sambo finals.
It was a productive finish for the hosts as they took three gold, fourth silver, and eight bronze medals, surpassing their two golds from Yap and Sy to finish fifth overall in the medal standings among 22 countries that took part in the meet organized by the Pilipinas Sambo Federation, Inc.
Tancontian was delighted by the organization of the meet and the results of the Filipino campaigners, declaring "we proved once again we are among Asia - and the world's - best. I am very happy with the outcome."
"Now that we've hosted the Asia-Oceania Championships, our next goal is the worlds."
