Yaw-Yan Fighter Wins Gold in Macau Games
By chefroe at 4 November, 2007, 9:36 am
‘Bad boy’ Zumido turns hero MACAU — From bad boy to golden boy. That’s the quick transformation light welterweight Ruben Zumido a Yaw-Yan Fighter underwent in the Macau 2nd Asian Indoor Games. Zumido, who almost missed his trip here due to a suspension for punching a teammate in the face, revved up the Philippines’ medal drive on Saturday by beating Thai Metta Khetnok in the muay thai finals.
Meek at the start, Zumido turned aggressive in the last two rounds to beat Khetnok and claim the country’s first gold after two earlier failures by his teammates.
Roland Claro and Brent Velasco settled for silvers after being dominated by a Hong Kongite and a Thai, respectively.
Hong Kong’s Chan Kai Tik floored Claro in their flyweight match many times to win via unanimous decision while Thailand’s Supachai Payunhan posted a similar unanimous victory over Velasco in their bantamweight final clash.
Zumido’s gold sparkled among the Philippines’ two silver and three bronze medals in the event that drew bets from 45 nations.
China leads the field with 59 gold medals, followed by Thailand (19), Hong Kong (15) and Korea (10). The Philippines ranked 19th.
Aside from the muay gold and silver medals, the Philippines also won a bronze each in chess, hoop sepak takraw and yet another one in muay.
Zumido’s inclusion in the team was hinged on his promise to reform. He was suspended for four months before the Muay a** of the Philippines (MAP) deliberated on the composition of the team which was pressed to produce for the Philippines after its team won a gold and two bronze medals in the Asian Indoor Games’ inaugural in Thailand in 2005.
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