Annie gives RP 1st gold; Mitchel falls

HANOI – Annie Albania pummeled Thailand’s Sopida Satumrum with a flurry of punches in the second round and went on to post a 12-4 victory to capture the bantamweight gold in the third Asian Indoor Games at the Bah Nihn gymnasium here yesterday.

The 27-year-old Albania, the reigning SEA Gamess champion, seized up her opponent in the early going then used her right straight and hooks in the middle rounds to dominate the Thai fighter, who moved up in weight after bagging the light flyweight gold in the 2007 SEA Games.

But while Albania dominated her rival, Mitchel Martinez fell short of her gold medal bid in the light welterweight division, absorbing a 3-18 setback to Cheng Dong of China.

“I needed the first round to have a feel of her style because this is our first meeting. But from there it was easy for me to connect using my right straight and hooks,” said Albania, a silver medalist in the 2008 World Women’s Boxing championships in China.

Satumrum tried to intimidate Albania with her rugged technique. But she paid dearly for it as Chinese Taipei referee Liu Ming-li awarded Albania two points after a hard push from the Thai rival, hiking Albania’s lead to 9-3.

Team RP thus ended its stint with a gold, silver and a bronze medal, courtesy of pinweight Josie Gabuco.

“We’re very happy with the gold medal. I believe we can win at least two here but I really hope we can win more,” said Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) secretary-general Steve Hontiveros.

“It’s a great win and a good motivation for our other athletes competing as they go for gold medals in their respective events,” said Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Harry Angping.

Tanker Miguel Molina lined himself up for a possible second gold medal as he cruised to the finals in his favorite 200m individual medley at the start of swimming competitions at the My Dinh National Aquatics Center.

Molina, who has the best time among 18 competitors at 1:58:42, topped heat two with 2:03:26. His clocking was the third fastest after Kazakhstan’s Dimitriy Gordiyenko at 2:00:51 and Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Chi Chie with 2:02.61.

“I was a bit tight but I hope to do better in the finals,” said the 25-year-old Molina, the 2007 SEA Games Best Male Athlete.

Sanshou artist Rhea May Rifani also assured herself of a silver medal even as muay artist Zaide Laruan, Jay Harold Gregorio and Maricel Subang gained automatic bronze medals.

Rifani bet Nguyen Thuy Ngan for a 2-1 decision in the 52-kg division at the start of the sanshou-wushu competitions at Trinh Hoai Duc gymnasium.

Meanwhile, the RP bowlers struggled and failed to advance to the quarterfinals at Saigon Superbowl, Ho Chi Mihn City

Biboy Rivera, who earlier won a bronze medal, and Chester King scored 2505 but finished only at 11th place in the men’s doubles while Liza Del Rosario and Kimberly Lao combined for 2330, which was 35 pins short from eight placers Natsumi Koizumi and Rina Asada (2365) of Japan. The settled for 10th spot in the women’s doubles.

Krizziah Lyn Tabora and Ma. Lourdes Arles scored 2262 for 17th place while Jonas Baltasar and Raoul Miranda had 2450 good only for 19th spot.