JAKARTA—Filipino-Japanese Kiyomi Watanabe bowed to top-ranked Nami Nabekura of Japan, 0-10, on Thursday night to settle for the country’s first silver medal in the 18th Asian Games at the Jakarta Convention Center Plenary Hall.
It may looked that simple—clinching a silver medal in judo. But it meant much more.
Watanabe missed giving the country its fifth gold medal in the Games that come to a close on Sunday, but succeeded in gifting the Philippines its first medal in judo since the sport was added on the Games program in Seoul in 1986.
Nabekura displayed the form that had her looking 16 rungs down Watanabe at No. 3 in the world. She forced the Filipino-Japanese to lose her balance in the first minute for a waza-ari that was equivalent to one point.
Watanabe was pinned down for 10 seconds in the 3:21 seconds of the match for the second waza-ari to lose the match via Ippon.
“Coming to this, I am the challenger,” said the 22-year-old Watanabe, a Sports Science student at Waseda University in Tokyo.
“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,” she said. “But she is now much stronger than me because she often competes.”
Watanabe, however, improved on her seventh-place finish in the Incheon 2014 Asian Games.
Despite failing to get the country’s fifth gold medal, Watanabe said she is already so happy with her first silver medal and his contribution to the country’s campaign.
“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.
Watanabe advanced to the semifinals, needing only one minute and 17 seconds to win by Ippon over world No. 204 Orapin Senathan of Thailand. Watanabe repeated over Senathan whom she beat for the gold in 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.
Mariya Takahashi, on the other hand, could not get past the quarterfinals also on Thursday. But she stayed in the hunt in the women’s -70 kgs following her victory via Ippon in 1:21 over five-time SEA Games champion Surattana Thongsri also of Thailand.
The 17-year-old Takahashi lost via Ippon (1:01, 0-11) to defending champion and 2014 Incheon Games gold medalist Seongyeon Kim Korea in the quarterfinals.
Takahashi needed to go through the repechage but lost to Naranjargal Tsend-Ayush of Mongolia via a full point and two Wazaris.
Eliminated early was Megumi Kurayoshi in the women’s -57kg. She lost via Ippon in two minutes and 44 seconds to IJF world No. 30 and World Cup silver medalist Leung Po Sum of Hong Kong.
Keisie Nagano won first match against Eyal Salman Younis of Jordan in the men’s -73kg round of 32 via Waza-ari in four minutes, but could not contain Mohammad Mohammadi Barimanlou of Iran, yielding via Ippon in 0:55 seconds in the round of 16.
According to Philippine Judo Federation President Dave Carter, Nabekura is no stranger to Watanabe.
“She has been practicing with Nabekura in the same dojo and are competing against each other in university tournaments in Japan,” Carter said.
What also went Watanabe’s way with her silver medal was the precious points she earned for a possible ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“Watanabe is currently No. 19 and with her silver, she could go up to No. 16, or at best No. 16,” Carter said.
The top 32 judokas in each of the men’s and women’s divisions qualify for the Olympics.
But despite adding a silver to the haul, the Philippines stood at No. 17 in the medal tally board on Thursday night.
With four gold, one silver and 13 bronze medals, the Philippines was the fifth-best Southeast Asian Games country in the Games Indonesia is hosting only for the second time since 1962.
The hosts Indonesians are in the magic five at No. 4 with a 30-23-37 gold-silver-bronze haul, Thailand was at No. 12 with 9-13-36, followed by Malaysia (5-11-9) and Vietnam (4-15-14) at Nos. 13 and 14, respectively.
Singapore—with 3-4-10—was at No. 19, Cambodia was No. 24 with 2-0-1, Lao PDR at No. 31 with 0-2-2 and Myanmar at No. 35 with two bronze medals.
There was literally no stopping China as it made its presence felt in practically all corners of Jakarta and Palembang. The Chinese are way above the tally board with 109 gold, 72 silver and 53 bronze medals.
Japan continued to be a far second with 59-49-64 and South Korea was at third with 38-46-55. Iran was fifth with 19-18-20.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes/Canon 6D MKII