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| Sophia Novino (red) tried to take down eventual champion Karakat Rakhybay in the youth women's -47kg final of the Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships. PSC-POC Media Pool |
MANILA—The Philippines came close to striking gold right on Day 1 of the Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships as Sophia Novino settled for silver in the youth women's -47kg division.
Novino just fell short in the final against Kazakh opponent Karakat Rakhybay, 8-1, on Thursday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Despite competing in a major sambo tournament for the first time ever, the 17-year-old University of the East senior high school judo standout proved her worth by scoring a takedown against Rakhybay to tie things up, 1-1.
However, Rakhybay showed why she was the silver medalist in last year's World Youth and Junior Sambo Championships in the same weight division, reasserting her might with a go-ahead takedown that led to her first armbar submission attempt.
Novino got out of the armbar initially, but Rakhybay set up another armbar in her next takedown, and the Filipina bet tapped out with 20 seconds left.
Despite getting emotional in defeat, Novino remains proud of her accomplishment as she continues to work on her sambo game.
"Alam ko naman po na marami pa akong mai-improve," Novino said.
"Big learning din ito for upcoming tournaments."
The home team amassed four total medals in Day 1 as three more Filipina warriors, Jennelyn Tuñacao, Tess Polistico, and Princess Boyore had a bronze apiece in the -72kg, -59kg, and -54kg weight classes.
"This is a good beginning for us in this tournament because the Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships is a tough competition and next only to the worlds," noted national sambo team coach Ace Larida.
"We can only look forward to doing better once we start competing in the senior division," Larida said.
