By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter
JUDOKA Kiyomi Watanabe fell short of giving a fifth gold medal for the Philippines at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia on Thursday night after losing to Japan’s Nami Nabekura in the gold medal battle in the women’s -63 kg judo competition at the JCC-Plenary Hall in Jakarta.
A gold medallist in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, Filipino-Japanese Watanabe found the going tough against Ms. Nabekura, who was the winner at the Asian Championship last year, to slump to the loss and settle for silver in the quadrennial continental sporting meet.
Ms. Nabekura did not waste much time, pulling off a Waza-ari early to score before getting another moments later to seal the deal.
The loss effectively ended a solid run for Ms. Watanabe, that saw her get the better of Gankhaich Bold of Mongolia in the semifinals.
“Coming to this, I am the challenger,” said Ms. Watanabe, a Sports Science student at Waseda University in Tokyo, of her gold medal match against Ms. Nabekura.
“We had a game plan but I was so nervous before the game and could not execute. I know her because we often met in tournament in Japan. But she is now much stronger than me because she often competes,” she added.
Ms. Watanabe went on to say that she was happy with the silver after going medal-less at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
“I didn’t have a medal in my first Asian Games. I am so happy with this medal. I hope to continue playing for the Philippines,” she said.
The silver of 22-year-old Watanabe was the first for the Philippines in the ongoing Asiad.
The Philippines now has four gold, one silver and 13 bronze medals with three days left in the competition.
