After earlier giving himself 99.9 percent odds of wining gold in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games sambo competition, Ilonggo fighter Rene Catalan recently finished with a silver medal after losing 11-3 in the men’s 57-kilogram combat event to Indonesian opponent Fajar Fajar at the Angeles University Foundation gym in Pampanga.
Sambo is a combat sport developed by the Soviet military.
The Iloilo City-based fighter said he injured his ankle during his semifinal bout against Thailand’s Chatchai Ritthidecha.
“My ankle and knee popped,” Catalan explained.
He said the maneuver committed against him was against the rules.
“What he did was illegal,” the Ilonggo fighter explained “If I didn’t tell the referee what was happening, he wouldn’t have noticed.”
“My movements were limited, my balance was different, and my game plan in the semifinals changed,” he added. “I wanted to just cruise in the semifinals to save my energy for the gold medal match; I just didn’t expect I’d get injured,”
Meanwhile, the Philippines also earned gold medals in the event through Mark Striegl and Chino Sy, along with two bronze medals by Patrick Paul Manicad and Nin Mondejar./ASC, WDJ