After her successful silver medal finish in the recent 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for the kurash women’s +87kgs event, top Pinay Sambo fighter Sydney Sy will don again the Philippine tricolors in the Asian Sambo Championships 2022.
Sy, the 2019 juniors edition champion of the event, will embark on another journey on June 1 to 5 in Jouneih, Lebanon against seasoned international sambo athletes to clinch the gold medal in the women’s +80kgs category.
The 22-year-old Davao native will be joined by former bemedalled national wushu-sanda campaigner Mariane Mariano for the women’s combat sambo under -59kgs.
Pilipinas Sambo Federation Inc. (PSF) President Paolo Tancontian said he is confident of the two lady samboists’ ability to clinch a medal in the tourney.
“This is a high-level tournament na mostly mahuhusay ang mga ipinapadala ng mga Asian countries,” he said.
“But I’m hopeful and confident na maganda ang ipinakitang conditioning ni Sydney lalo na sa ipinakita niya sa SEA Games, while Mariane is a veteran fighter and she knows how to win. Malaki ang tiyansa natin mag-medal dahil nakapaghanda naman tayo,” he continued.
Sy is the first athlete from Southeast Asia to win a medal at the world championship and become a member of the International Sambo Athletes Commission. She also won a medal in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in judo and in the 2019 SEA Games for kurash.
Tancontian said Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and other European countries are expected to be formidable opponents of the country’s team. -ml-ag
