By Brian Yalung
Allison Krystle Perticheto gave the Philippines something to cheer about after bagging the gold medal in the Senior Ladies division of the 2018 Bosphorus Cup held recently at the Silivrikapi Ice Skating Hall in Istanbul, Turkey.
The 21-year-old Filipino-Italian figure skater, who was born in Switzerland, tallied 153.25 points in the short program and free skating segments to beat Lara Naki Gutmann of Italy (150.37) and Niki Wories of Netherlands (136.51) for the gold.
In the short program segment, Perticheto actually finished fourth after getting a total score of 49.88 behind Gutmann and Wories.
She more than made up for it in the Free Skating segment after collecting 103.37 while Gutmann only had 96.39.
“Honestly I didn’t expect to win… I was sitting 4th after a good short program with only one mistake. The next day I just wanted to skate a good clean free program which I did. So I was very happy and hearing that I was first at the end of the competition had made me even more happier and proud,” said Perticheto.
“In competition the rank does not really matter to me as long as I skate well and enjoy myself on the ice. I also got a new season best and points to join 4 Continents and Worlds. Overall this competition had brought me so much motivation and confidence. I credit all of my achievement to my parents because without their help I wouldn’t be able to represent the Philippines around the world. And also to my coach Roberto with whom I’m working hard on the ice,” she added.
Looking ahead, Allison is looking forward to representing the Philippines in the 2019 SEA Games.
