By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Filipina Angel Gwen Derla pulled off a stunner as she ruled the women’s bamboo shield form of kun bokator at the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games at the Chroy Changvar Hall in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Thursday night, May 4.
The Laguna province’s Cabuyao City-native Derla, who shifted to the sport from pencak silat, scored 8.50 points in the event, which was one of the indigenous sports that Cambodian organizers introduced in their SEA Games hosting.
Meanwhile, Cambodia’s Chanchhorvy Puth settled for the silver medal finish with 8.47 points after her nearly two-minute routine, while Indonesia’s Deslya Anggraini placed third with 8.42 points.
“I really wanted to represent our country by competing here in the SEA Games. Through sheer hard work, I was able to deliver despite the fact that I only trained for two months,” the 19-year-old Derla said.
Mark James Lacao captured a silver medal after falling short in the men’s bamboo shield form, while Alyssa Kylie Mahinay took the bronze in the female bokator spirit form.
Jiu jitsu fighter Jenna Kaila Napolis was the source of the country’s first gold medal in the biennial games after beating hometown bet Jessa Khan in the finals of the women’s ne-waza GI 52-kilograms category, 2-0.
“It was surreal. I still couldn’t believe I won,” Napolis, who lost to Khan in the 49-kilogram category finals during the 2019 SEA Games, said.
“I really wanted to win against her this time,” she added.
Napolis opened up her campaign with a 50-0 win over Singapore’s May Yong The, then went on to thump Thailand’s Nuchanat Singchalad, 3-0; and Vietnam’s Thi Huyen Dang, 50-0.
On the other hand, the men’s duo of Karl and Harvey Navarro went home with the bronze medal after falling short of their matches against Thailand, 68-63.5; Cambodia, 66-59; and Vietnam, 64-59.
Dianne Ruado Bargo and Isabela Dominique Montaña also went home with the bronze medal in the women’s contest after scoring 40 behind eventual gold medalist Thailand and silver medal winner Cambodia./ASC, WDJ