Boxing’s Lobrido, Alas women spikers stay on hunt for Asian Youth Games gold

MANAMA, Bahrain — Boxer Leo Mhar Lobrido and Alas Pilipinas provided hope to the Philippine team eyeing to rake in more gold medals after pulling off nerve-wracking victories in the 3rd Asian Youth Games here Monday.

Lobrido, the diminutive but big-hearted Filipino flag-bearer, survived a feisty Sri Lankan Binul Dulnada Narayana in the 46-kilogram quarterfinal to seal himself a virtual bronze with a chance of a better one — possibly a gold — at the Exhibition World Bahrain.

The semifinal round is set Tuesday in the sport that has been a constant source of Olympic medals for the country through the years.

It was a victory as massive as the Filipinas’ 25-16, 20-25, 25-16, 25-18 triumph over Chinese Taipei in girls’ volleyball at the ISA Sports City Sunday night that punched it a ticket to the semifinals where it clashes with Iran.

The Iranians turned back the Mongolians, 25-21, 22-25, 25-12, 25-15, in marching to the semis.

On the other side of the fence, it will be an interesting duel between Southeast Asian rivals Thailand and Indonesia.

The winners will advance straight to the gold medal round while the losers clash it out for the bronze Wednesday.

And the Filipinas set their sights on one thing alone — make the finals.

“We’re exhilarated, we got the victory,” said an ecstatic Alas standout Rihanna Cris Navarro. “Our target is really the top four but if we get the chance to make the finals, we’ll grab it.”

Navarro said they’re confident of their chances against the Iranians.

“If I would rate our chances from one to 10 against Iran, I can say it’s a 10,” she said.

In weightlifting, Princess Jay Ann Diaz and Jay-r Colonia settled for a bronze in clean and jerk.

Diaz, niece of Tokyo Olympic gold winner Hidilyn Diaz, took the podium finish in the girls’ 44kg section where she lifted a 78kg while Colonia, who also came from the same Zamboanga City stable that produced Diaz, had the same medal in the boys’ 56 kg clean and jerk a 173kg lift.

Expect more medals, hopefully gold, to come soon as Jhodie Peralta, a world juniors champion, will be one of the three remaining lifters to see action.

She is scheduled to plunge into action in the girls’ 53kg class Tuesday.

In table tennis at the EWB, John Marin and Jannaj Alarcon dumped Mongolia’s Turmunkh Dugersuren and Enkhjin Tuvshinbayar, 11-7, 12-10, 11-3, to launch their bid in the mixed doubles.

In cycling at the Nasser Bin Hamad loop, CJ Cabreros finished 10th out of 22 participants in the boys’ individual time trial with a clocking of 23 minutes and 6.39 seconds.

Chinese Zhang Qiaochu took the mint in 21:45.65.