WRESTLING chief Alvin Aguilar has ramped up the national wrestling team’s preparations for the 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games, tapping a Russian coach and two Russian wrestlers to train the Pinoy the grapplers for over a month intensively for the regional meet in May next year.
“With the help of the Russian federation we were able to get a Russian coach and two wrestlers help us train for the Cambodia SEA Games,” said Aguilar, referring to coach Aleksandr Safronov and wrestlers Maksim and Georgiy Kychkin, who compete in the men’s 65kg and 96kg divisions, respectively.
“Safronov was a top wrestler in the former Soviet Union while Maksim recently won a bronze medal in in the Korkin International Championship,” Aguilar said, adding that all three would train the local wrestlers in both Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling.
He said all three Russians arrived early this month and would stay until the Cambodia Games.
“Given their extensive experience, sharing their knowledge and skills with our athletes will be invaluable in our campaign in the Cambodia SEA Games,” said the wrestling honcho, hopeful that local bets can come back with gold medals after coming up dry in the Vietnam edition last May.
Pitted against hometown campaigners in the seven finals they were entered in, the Filipinos took home seven silvers and five bronzes from the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, below the 2-10-1 tally they had in the 30th Southeast Asian Games in the country three years ago.
Aguilar said wrestling could play a pivotal role in the Philippine campaign in the Cambodia SEA Games, considering that there would be a total of 30 gold medals up for grabs in the sport.
He also acknowledged that the Cambodian organizers had handicapped the other participating countries by limiting their athletes to only 70 percent participation in combat sports.
