THE daughter of a former national standout and Southeast Asian Games gold medalist was tops in his forte, the kata event, yesterday in the 8th PSC Women’s Art Festival at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
Samantha Emmanuelle Veguillas, daughter of 1993 Singapore SEA Games team kata gold medalist Chino Veguillas, narrowly took the gold in the women’s individual over Association for the Advancement of Karate teammate Joan Denise Lumbao.
Veguillas, 19, edged Lumbao, 16, by a score of 23.20 to 22.80 in the competition organized by the Philippine Sports Commission as the initial tune-up and countdown to the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Thailand just over a year from now.
Earlier, Vietnam SEA Games pencak silat women’s champion Mary Francine Padios ruled the Seni Tunggal singles category after scoring 9.587 points.
“Hindi po sana ako maglalaro ngayon pero napanaginipan ko po ang papa ko at parang pinapaalalahan po ako sa responsibilidad ko ngayon, hindi lang sa bansa dahil ako na din ngayon ang tumatayong padre de pamilya,’’ said Padios, whose father passed away shortly after she won the country’s first SEAG gold medal in Vietnam last May.
The Maharlika Karatedo of the Philippines International quad of Fatima A-Isha Lim Hamsain, Baby Angel Lamore and Christina Colonia handily ruled the senior women’s team kata with a score of 22.20 points while AU JKS-MKPI/CLSU JKS-MKKPI (20.20) and CLSU JKS-MKKPI (15.0) were second and third, respectively.
