2020 World Youth and Junior Sambo Championships Bronze Medalist Sydney Tancontian has set her sights on the upcoming Asian Sambo Championships and World Sambo Championships this year.
Tancontian was also planning to make a comeback in Sambo at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games after playing for Kurash in 2019. Unfortunately, Sambo was not included in the calendar of events of the 2021 SEA Games in December in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“Sa ngayon po ang focus is ‘yong Asian and World Championships. I’m aiming naman po to be able to win a gold for the world championships. ‘Yong Asian po this year, sa tingin ko po medyo mas magiging mahirap or challenging ‘yong laro because nag-less na ‘yong restrictions sa ibang countries so lahat sila magpapadala na rin (My focus for now is the Asian and World Championships. I’m aiming to be able to win a gold for the world championships. The Asian this year, I think, will be quite hard or the game is more challenging because restrictions in other countries have been lessened so all of them will be sending [representatives]),” Tancontian said.
Given the community quarantine in Davao City where she is currently based, Tancontian is now focusing on home training workouts.
“Sa ngayon po kasi mahirap mag-travel lalo na going to Manila and wala naman kaming house para makapag-stay kami sa Manila and it’s not practical na mag-travel diyan. So baka maghanap ng space dito sa bahay. Mayroon naman po’ng equipment na nabili si Chino for weight training. Ang kulang lang namin is ‘yong sparring po talaga (For now, it is difficult to travel especially going to Manila and we do not have a house for us to stay in Manila and it’s not practical to travel going there. So we might just find a space at home. Chino was able to buy many equipment for weight training. What is really missing is the sparring),” Tancontian concluded.
The 2021 Asian Sambo Championships will be held in June while the World Sambo Championships is scheduled on November, both in Uzbekistan. – Report from Mae Ann Fajardo/jbb
