SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- An ankle injury hindered ONE strawweight fighter Rene Catalan from snagging a gold in the sambo tournament of the 30th Southeast Asian Games Friday at the Angeles University Foundation.
Catalan fought through the pain in the 57kg division of the men's combat event against Indonesia's Fajar Fajar, who eventually scored an 11-3 win over the eventual silver medalist.
The 40-year-old sustained the injury in his quarterfinals matchup against Thailand's Chatchai Ritthidecha.
"My ankle and knee popped. What he did was illegal. If I didn't tell the referee what was happening, he wouldn't have noticed it," he rued.
Despite the injury -- which derailed Catalan's plans of taking it easy in his semifinal clash with the Thai -- the many-time wushu champion still managed to take down Ritthidecha to advance.
"My movements were limited, my balance was different and my game plan in the semifinals changed. I wanted to just cruise in the semifinals to save my energy for the gold medal match. I just didn't expect I'd get injured."
His silver was the lone medal of the day managed by the Philippines, who saw other Filipino competitors crash out of the semifinals.
The Philippines sambo team will still finish its campaign with two golds courtesy of Mark Striegl and Chino Sy along with two bronzes from Patrick Paul Manicad and Nin Mondejar.