Pinoy figure skaters win two medals in ISU event

Local bets Sofia Isabel Guidote and Elia Mariel Mendoza won silver and bronze each for the Philippines in the recently concluded International Skating Union (ISU) World Development Trophy (WDT) 2014 on Saturday at the SM Megamall Skating Rink in Mandaluyong City.

The bubbly 12-year-old Guidote placed second in the Basic Novice A girls’ free skate program with 36.17 points behind Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea) Hyang Mi Ro’s 42.44 score. South African Jaydean Brits settled for the bronze with 31.00 points.

Guidote, who also attended the five-day training camp conducted by world-renowned coach Shanetta Folle of Austria, also previously won silver medals in separate ISU events in China, Hong Kong and Thailand and a bronze in the Asian Open in Bangkok.

She said that she’s happy to compete for the last time in the WDT as she aims to join several qualifying events for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

“It was fun and I met new friends. I saw that I can work harder and learned that I have more aspects to improve so that I can become better in my sport,” said Guidote, who was thankful for the tips she learned from Folle.

“The five-day camp helped me with my spins. It actually became higher (my jumps and spins). But I still have to work much harder than the usual to perfect my program, so I can compete in any of the [Olympic] qualifying events,” added Guidote, who started figure skating at age six.

Mendoza, meanwhile, finished third in the Basic Novice B Girls with 32.86 behind North Korea’s Un Hyang Kim (gold, 41.10) and South African Courtney Kuhn (silver, 36.52).

The North Koreans added a third gold to become a successful country in the annual games that gathered 56 athletes from 15 countries where figure skating is still at a developmental stage.

Yong Myong Ro gave North Korea its third gold after ruling the Basic Novice B Boys’ division with 40.98 points. Indonesia’s Calvin Pratama (14.71) and Nishchay Luthra (10.32) won the silver and bronze medals,
respectively.

The other medalists were Singapore’s Luc Ong (gold, 21.37) and Adham Yudhatama of India (silver, 16.96) in the Basic Novice A boys’; Malaysia’s Julian Zhi Jie Yee (gold, 150.54), North Korean Kum Choi Han (silver, 136.11) and compatriot Kwang Bon Ham (bronze, 124.64) in the junior men’s; and Chloe Ing of Singapore (gold, 119.49), Jonna So of Hong Kong (silver, 103.00) and Thailand’s Promsan Rattanadilokna Phuket (bronze, 91.84) in the junior ladies.

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