DABAWENYA multi-athlete Sydney Tancontian salvaged a silver medal in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Senior Wrestling Championship 2015 held over the weekend at the Jurong Outdoor Futsal Centre in Singapore.
Sydney told Sun.Star Davao through Facebook chat that she settled with the silver medal after bowing to her Vietnamese opponent Huong in their women’s -69 kilograms finals match.
“I think po, yung experience and medyo may mga failed attempts po ako na ginawa kaya nagkaroon po ng chance na magkaroon siya [Huong] ng puntos,(I think it was the lack of experience and I have done failed attempts that is why she had chances to earn points),” Tancontian said when asked what went wrong in her finals match.
The multi-titled judoka also admitted that she still has a lot of wrestling techniques to learn and she needs to improve her strength and conditioning.
Sydney’s father and head coach of the Holiday Judo Club Paolo Tancontian, in a separate Facebook chat, said Sydney was outclassed yet she was able to give the Vietnamese a good fight.
“Nakalaban naman siya kaso di pa sanay si Syd sa wrestling na rules mao medyo nahirapan siya mag adjust. Pero maka sukol siya sa kusog sa adult. Maayo iyang dula.(She was able to put up a good fight but she is not used to the rules of wrestling and she had quite a difficult time adjusting. But she could put up a good fight against the adults. Her game was good.),” the elder Tancontian said.
The Philippine Wrestling Team, meanwhile, placed second overall after harvesting a total of four golds, seven silvers and two bronze medals.
But Sydney said that she will have a chance to redeem herself as she is poised in preparing for her last Philippine Olympic Committee-Philippine Sports Commission (POC-PSC) Batang Pinoy National Championships stint.
She said she is hoping to sweep gold medals in her last Batang Pinoy Stint hence, she is back to training full-time.