PH skier relishes China chance
HARBIN, China—Fifteen-year-old Laetaz Amihan Rabe embraced the challenge of competing against Asia’s top skiers, gaining critical experience for future tournaments.
“I’m still happy with my runs even though I finished last,” said Rabe, who placed sixth out of six in the women’s freeski slopestyle at the 9th Asian Winter Games on Tuesday.
Rabe scored 56.50 points in her first run at Yabuli Ski Resort, an hour from Harbin, but logged a DNI (did not improve) in her next two attempts. China’s Liu Mengting dazzled with gravity-defying spins and tricks, securing gold with 94.0 points. Teammates Yang Ruyi (90.50) and Han Linshan (87.00) completed the podium sweep.
“I’ve made a lot of progress. I pushed myself like never before, so it’s been a great experience,” said Rabe, whose father hails from Cotabato City and mother from Malolos, Bulacan.
Meanwhile, at Pingfang Curling Arena, the Philippine women’s curling team was a stone’s throw away from a victory against Kazakhstan. With the score tied in the final end, Kathleen Dubberstein’s last stone, expertly guided by Leilani Sumbillo An and Anne Bonache, landed favorably. But Kazakhstan’s Angelina Ebauyer responded, knocking out the Filipino stone for a narrow victory.
Dubberstein’s squad, including vice-skip Sheila Mariano, absorbed their second loss in four games of the nine-team round-robin. They’ll face Thailand next, then China and South Korea on Wednesday, aiming for wins to secure a top-four semifinal spot. They wrap up against Chinese Taipei on Thursday.
On the men’s side, skip Marc Pfister and vice-skip Christian Haller led the Philippines to a dominant 12-2 win over Kyrgyzstan. Holding a 2-1 record, they face Chinese Taipei next, with a win securing a qualification round berth and a shot at the semifinals.
Figure skaters Isabella Marie Gamez and Aleksandr Korovin progressed to the finals of the pair skating program set on Wednesday after placing fourth among six participants with 55.63 points.
Uzbekistan’s Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitri Chigirev got the nod of the judges and topped the preliminaries at the HIC Multifunctional Hall with 58.49 points.
