PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Angel Gwen Derla claimed the Philippines' second gold medal in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games by ruling the Cambodian martial arts of kun bokator on Thursday.
Derla scored 8.50 to beat home bet Chanchhorvy Puth [8.47] to capture the gold medal in one of the indigenous sports that Cambodian organizers introduced in their hosting of the SEA Games.
The 19-year-old Derla, a pencak silat practitioner, was one of the Filipino athletes called upon to compete in kun bokator.
READ: Filipino Derla beats Cambodian bet in their own game
Derla said she only trained for two months in Lipa in order to prepare herself for the event.
“Thankful po ako sa Team Philippines at sa lahat ng organizations na sumuporta sa amin especially sa mga coaches ko. Hindi po namin ito magagawa in such a short notice,” said Derla, a tourism management student from Our Lady of Fatima University-Laguna.
“Sobrang bago lang kami sa sports na ‘to. Kaka-try lang namin. Thankful at blessed kami ngayon na nakalaban kami,” said Derla.
In explaining kun bokator, Derla said: “Parang naihahantulad ko ito sa muay thai kasi more on suntok. But at the same time, may pagkakahawig sila sa artistic ng pencak silat. Kaya ginrab namin ang opportunity.”
The Cabuyao, Laguna native said her background in pencak silat helped in winning the gold.
“Nag-artistic po ako. Nalaman ko ang galaw at ‘yung backgroup namin sa martial arts, mas nag-mold sa amin para ma-perfect at magawa namin ‘yung kun bokator.
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