SEA GAMES: Iniong, de Paz, one win away from winning gold medals

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Kickboxers Gina Iniong and Gretel de Paz already assured the Philippines of either a gold or a silver medal finish in the 2022 Southeast Asian Games after advancing to the championship match in their respective categories.

Iniong, a Team Lakay star and an experienced fighter already under the ONE Fighting Championship, overpowered Jihin Radzuan of Malaysia, 3-0, during the semifinals of the women’s low kick minus-60 kg event.

Meanwhile, de Paz, showed resiliency and gathered herself in the perfect time to get past Namrak Surachada of Thailand at the women’s full contact -56kg semifinal match.

Iniong wasted no time putting on the attack and was just too much for the defensive Radzuan, hitting her with her quick leg kicks that generated most of her points.

This is also Iniong’s second-straight win against Radzuan after escaping with a split-decision victory during their ONE Championship clash last February.

De Paz on the other hand survived a slow start and regained her rhythm in the next minutes of the fight to dispatch Surachada.

The Filipina kickboxer recovered quickly after several defensive mistakes that opened up several offensive executions for the Thai representative.

In the men’s category, the duo of Honorio Banario and Emmanuel Cantores settled for the bronze medals and were eliminated in their respective weight classes.

Banario was ousted by Cambodia’s Lvay Chhoueng in the low kick under-71kg category while Cantores suffered his fate against Vietnam’s Huy Nguyen Quang, 0-3, men’s low kick minus-60 kg