Hergie Bacyadan doesn’t wait too long to mount an attack during the fights. —AFP
The supreme art of war, the Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
A thorough beating handed to a semifinal foe, a series of dagger looks and five seconds in the title bout were all Hergie Bacyadan needed to force China’s Teng Jinwei to surrender the gold in the Asian Kickboxing Championships 2024.
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The Filipino hardly had need to throw a single punch.
“My strategy hasn’t changed. I attack immediately as soon as I hear the bell,’’ said Bacyadan in Filipino after claiming the women’s K1 -70kgs title in a rather odd manner.
Teng had most likely watched Bacyadan put away Samnang Raksa of host Cambodia with a dominating performance in the semifinal, and her corner looked like it wasn’t willing to put her through the same ordeal, throwing in the towel five seconds into the title fight.
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“That’s how I approach every fight. Throw everything you’ve got right from the start,’’ said Bacyadan, whose foiled attempt to medal in the women’s boxing event of the Paris Olympics only emboldened her to seek glory in other combat sports.
Trying her hand in at least four combat sports—from wushu, vovinam to boxing—before shifting to kickboxing, Bacyadan’s triumph propelled her back to the world stage. A gold medal in the continental kickboxing championships punches a ticket to the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China.
Men’s forms
“Everybody wants to be there in the World Games and I’m glad that I’ve qualified,’’ said Bacyadan, the 2023 vovinam world champion in her division.
Counting Bacyadan’s win, Team Philippines collected three golds apart from four bronze medals.
Jovan Medallo secured two golds in the men’s forms division—men’s musical forms with weapon and without weapon—and added a bronze in the men’s creative form with weapon for good measure.
Creative specialist Janah Labador followed Medallo on the podium by obtaining three bronze medals in the musical forms with weapon, musical forms without weapon and creative forms with weapon.
A feisty warrior from Kalinga, Bacyadan missed out on a medal as a women’s middleweight boxer in the Paris Summer Games more than two months ago.
A Bacyadan victory in the World Games, where sports not included in the Olympic program are showcased, in the Chinese province of Sichuan can erase the pain of that stinging defeat.
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The event will be held from Aug. 7 to Aug. 17 next year. INQ