INQUIRER Sports

BEIJING—Harry Tañamor fought a listless, unremarkable battle and bowed to a superior Ghanian counterpuncher but tankers Miguel Molina and Christel Simms saved the day for the Philippines with a pair of new national records Wednesday at the Beijing Olympics here.

Tañamor was completely outfought and outsmarted by Mangyo Plange, the Afican light flyweight champion who moved to the round of 16 with a clear-cut 6-3 decision at the Beijing Workers Stadium.

In throwing away the country’s first of only three clear shots at an Olympic medal, the 29-year-old Tañamor was a shadow of the fighter who bagged the silver medal in last year’s World Championships.

“Madulas ang kalaban at magaling din (The enemy was slippery and fought very well),” said coach Pat Gaspi. “Maraming bitaw sa ilalim si Harry pero hindi nakita ng mga judges (Harry threw many uppercuts but the judges did not see them).”

Simms, the 17-year-old Fil-Hawaiian, shaved half a second off her national record in the 100-meter freestyle before Molina ended what could be his last Olympics with an impressive new mark in the 200m individual medley at the Water Cube aquatics venue.

Earlier in the afternoon, archer Mark Javier battled a higher-ranked Kuo Cheng-wei of Chinese Taipei neck-and-neck before faltering with just two arrows left and yielding, 106-102, at the Beijing Green Archery Field.

Simms clocked 56.67 seconds in finishing fourth in her heat, smashing her own RP record of 57.17 which she set in last year’s USA Junior National Swimming Championships at Indianapolis.

Two hours later, the 24-year-old Molina finished second in his heat to Norway’s Gard Kvale in 2 minutes and 1.61 seconds, well under his old national record of 2:03.22. He wound up 37th in a field of 54 starters.

The 17-year-old Hawaii-based Simms ranked 42nd of 49 entries in the 100m free.

The new pair of records were the swimmers’ second and third in three days of competition.

“Both Christel and Miguel had a great night, strategy-wise,” said a jubilant national swimming association head Mark Joseph.

Tañamor, his nation’s biggest medal hope here apart from taekwondo-jins Marie Antoinette Rivero and Tshomlee Go, trailed Plange all the way as he failed to connect with his vaunted left-right-left combination.

After tying the score at 2-2, Tanamor kept himself open to the lunging right cross of the Ghanian who scored three straight points to move up, 5-2.

Another right cross by the Ghanian as he backpedalled from Tanamor’s harmless right made it 6-3 at the end of the third round. A right-left combination that tagged Plange in the head gave the Filipino the last score of the bout.

Tañamor looked completely unbothered by his defeat as he made his way to the fighters’ dugout, even managing to smile at reporters who swarmed at him.

“Parang hindi natalo (He didn’t look a loser),” an RP delegation official said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Baka may problema (He must be having a problem).”

Rivero and Go see action on Aug. 21.

The gangling Javier led the Taiwanese, 50-49, after the second of four three-arrow ends and kept the scores tied after 10 arrows when Kuo closed out the duel of nerves with his second and third bull’s eye of the match.

Adding to the Dumaguete archer’s woes was a bow sight that he said had to be adjusted up because he was hitting low. After a low 9 that kept him abreast with the portly, 25-year-old Kuo with two arrows left, Javier shot an 8 below the bull’s eye to trail by two points.

A final thud that yielded a 10 for the Taiwanese World Cupper ended Javier’s brave stand and made his 12th arrow inconsequential.

“Medyo mababa yung 9 sa 10th arrow kaya nag-adjust ako ng sight, pero ganun pa rin ang tama sa baba (I hit the 10th arrow low for a 9, that’s why I adjusted the bow’s sight, but I continued to hit low),” said the 110-pound 5-foot-9 Javier.