CHINO Sy Tancontian of Davao City brought home a gold medal for the Philippines as his teammates added one gold, two silvers and a bronze in the just-concluded 2nd Southeast Asia Sambo Championships at the Aston Tropicana, Kota Bandung, Indonesia.
Tancontian, who recently graduated from Senior High School at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), subdued his Indonesian opponent Fauji Rizki in the men's sports sambo -82 kilograms (kgs) best-of-three finals with an eight-point win and an inner leg throw in their first and second encounters, respectively.
"I feel happy po Ma'am as I prepared po with intense training at na-fulfill ko naman po yung goal ko na manalo po," the 18-year-old incoming Sports Science freshman said in a Facebook interview with SunStar Davao.
The UST judo varsity scholar said he expected a good result in the tournament having trained so hard for it.
He added, "Confident po ako na makakakuha po ng place sa podium."
However, after his feat, the six-foot-one champion is not yet certain where he would be competing next. He might be seeing action with his sister Sydney in the World Masterships in South Korea or straight to the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which the country is hosting on November 30 to December 11.
His proud father Paolo Tancontian praised Chino, saying, "He is very young. Marami pa syang room for improvement. Napakatalented na bata, napakasipag mag-ensayo."
Sydney, for her part, is preparing for the Korean meet set in September. She is currently training in Singapore and will continue her training in Japan next month.
Meanwhile, Filipinos Patrick Manicad (-82 kgs combat)) also clinched a gold while Helen Aclopen (women's sports sambo -52 kgs) and Jedd Andre Kim (men's sports sambo -74 kgs) bagged silvers. Patrick dos Santos (men's -82 kgs combat sambo) salvaged a bronze.
Paolo, also the Pilipinas Sambo Federation, Inc. secretary general, thanked their chairman Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, their president Paolo Claudio and Philippine Sports Commission's (PSC's) chairman William I. Ramirez, PSC commissioner Ramon Fernandez and deputy executive director lawyer Guillermo Iroy for their support to the team's Indonesia stint.
Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar delegations also vied for honors in the tournament.