IN GOD WE TRUST
11th Asia-Oceania Sambo C’ship.. A GOLDEN SILVER FOR NOVINO!
IT’S not all that glitters is gold.
SPORTS
By Danny Simon
6/26/20262 min read
IT’S not all that glitters is gold.
Pitted against a two-time world silver medalist, Pinoy rookie Sophia Nicole Novino gallantly held her own for nearly four minutes before tapping out in losing to Kazakhstan's Karakat Rakhybay in the women's youth -47-kilogram finals of of the 11th Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships presented by the Philippine Sports Commission last Wednesday night.
Appearing in her first major international meet, Novino was fearless against Rakhybay, fighting to a 1-all standoff early in the match before finally succumbing to her her more experienced rival at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
A back-to-back silver medalist in the world youth meet in the 2024 and 2025 editions held in Larnaca, Cyprus and Bogor, Indonesia, respectively, the Kazakhstani pinned her foe down with 24 second left in the four-minute bout, forcing the Pinay grappler to surrender.
Still, Novino's silver medal was the best performance for the hosts, who had earlier secured three bronze medals in the opening day of the competition held organized by the Pilipinas Sambo Federation Inc.
Three more bronzes were added to the Philippine medal collection yesterday from Johan Matthew San Miguel, Daniel Justin Virtudazo and Julian Henry Flores in junior men's combat sambo in the -58kg, -88kg and -98kg classes, respectively.
"Hindi lang po ito malaking news sa akin pero malaking learning po," said Novino, who sobbed after losing to her rival, unaware at first that she battled a world-class grappler in the meet also held under the aegis of the National Sports Tourism Inter-agency Committee led by PSC Chairman Patrick Gregorio.
"Pero at least nakakuha rin ako ng isang point sa isang magaling na kalaban. First step pa lang ito at hindi ako susuko," added the 17-year-old UE judo varsity team campaigner.
"This is her first major sambo international tournament but Sophia did very well. Maganda ang ipinakita niya against a very strong opponent. She put on a good show so I am proud of her," noted national sambo team coach Jerry Legaspi.
"She is relatively new to the sport so naninibago pa coming from a judo background, but she will learn from this experience and definitely will do better next time," Legaspi added.
Scheduled to see action today is top gold medal bet and defending women's sport sambo +80kg divison champion Sydney Sy in the four-day tournament backed by Victory Liner.
Live action of the 11th Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships can be watched by video streaming on www.sambo.live and the official PSFI and PSC Facebook pages.
PSC chairman Patrick ‘Pato Gregorio pose for posterity with Sambo silver medalist Sophia Nicole Novino along with Ph Sambo president Paolo Tancontian at the presscon yesterday at PSC Media Center.(Abby Pamplona)
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