Delarmino aims for gold in muay
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Muay thai bet Phillip Delarmino punched his ticket to the final after an exciting 30-27 win over Rusdem Bayramdurdyyew of the host in their -57kg semifinals encounter in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) Wednesday here.
Delarmino, the 26-year-old fighter from Iloilo City, won in all three rounds – a strategy he and national team coach Billy Alumno had against a very aggressive foe in Bayramdurdyyew.
Delarmino will next face Thailand’s Chotichanin Kokkrachai, who entered the championship match by scoring a similar 30-27 victory over Almaz Sarsembekov of Kazakhstan.
The gold medal game was scheduled last night at the Muay Thai Arena.
A silver medal winner in the Asian Beach Games in 2014 and 2013 Myanmar Southeast Asian Games, Delarmino’s counter kicks and punches got through on several occasions when the Turkmen tried attack him with punches of his own.
“Nahirapan din ako sa kalaban ko, pero effective naman yung game plan namin ni coach (Alumno),” said Delarmino. “Napag-aralan namin dahil sa last two fights ko ganun lang plano ko… clear na kunin namin every round.”
“Mahirap kasi kung dumikit ang laban tapos ang kalaban host country pa,” Delarmino added.
Chooks To Go Pilipinas could miss the services of import Rod Ebondo when it takes on Kazakhstani club BC Astana tonight for the start of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Chenzhou, China.
The Congolese star of Centro Escolar University has yet to receive his Chinese visa at press time, which could leave the Chooks To Go squad without one of its key players in the 9:45 p.m. faceoff with last season’s winner of the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship.
That will put 7-foot-1 Isaiah Austin, the other import of the Chot Reyescoached team, to carry a heavy load against the taller BC Astana side.
The top naturalization candidate of Gilas Pilipinas also endured visa issues before securing one Wednesday afternoon in Hong Kong. He rejoined his teammates yesterday when the delegation arrived in the city located in Hunan province.
Chooks To Go believes it has a good chance of securing a quarterfinals berth after being bracketed in Group A with Palestine’s Sareyyet Ramallah, Thailand’s Mono Vampire and Iran’s Petrochimi.
The top four teams after the group stage advance to the last eight of the annual club tournament.
Amateur stars Kiefer Ravena and Jeron Teng are also expected to play big roles for the team that also includes PBA players Carl Bryan Cruz of Alaska, LA Revilla of Kia and Norbert Torres and Alfrancis Tamsi of TNT KaTropa.
The rest of the team are free agent Jeric Teng, Gilas Cadets member Almond Vosotros and amateurs Raymar Jose and Jett Manuel.
Notable names for BC Astana are 6-foot-7 Denis Degtyarev, 6-foot Rustam Murzagaliyev, 6-foot-10 Anton Ponomarev and 6-foot-9 Alexandr Zhigulin, who all played for Kazakhstan in last month’s FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut, Lebanon.
Reinforcing BC Astana is 6-foot-4 American Justin Carter, a former Euroleague import.
—JONAS TERRADO