Filipinos settle for Go’s bronze

GUANGZHOU—There were four previous bronze medals in the Philippine tally going into the seventh day of competitions in the 16th Asian Games here. All of them gave their owners reason to celebrate. Tshomlee Go won a fifth one for the country on Friday. Only this time, he struggled to wear a smile on his face. Go couldn’t comprehend what had happened in the semifinals of taekwondo’s men’s under-63 kg class at the Guangdong Gymnasium. When the realization sank, he wept in the arms of his coach and settled for the bronze medal after losing in dramatic fashion to Korean Lee Dae-hoon in sudden death. Hoon tagged Go in a fierce exchange in the first-to-score extension to nail the victory and advance to the finals, leaving Go to find solace in his bronze medal. “That’s how it is in this sport,” a teary-eyed Go told the Inquirer after the fight. “Sometimes you just go for the attack and it all boils down to who hits the sensor. If you hit the sensor, the score registers.” The bronze racked up the Philippines’ medal haul to two golds, one silver and five bronzes as the country slipped to 14th place in the overall medal tally. Indonesia leapfrogged over the Philippines despite having also two gold medals. Silver medals in dragonboat—where the country refused to send its athletes here due to a faulty qualifying test—gave the Indonesians a total of four silvers. Another Southeast Asian rival, Malaysia, lay ahead of the Philippines with a 3-3-4 count at press time. China continues to lead the standings with 122-50-54, with South Korea still leading the gold-medal battle for second against Japan, 40 to 24. In scattered venues around Guangdong province, there was little else to celebrate. Cecil Mamiit and Treat Conrad Huey advanced to the next round with wins in men’s singles in tennis and then teamed up to topple favored Japanese pair of Go Sueda and Hiroki Kondo in the doubles. Delfin Boholst lost an uninspired encounter with Mongolia’s Tuvshinbat Byamba in the 64 kg division (light welterweight) at the Foshan gymnasium, cutting to three the number of male boxers still in the hunt for gold here. Wilfredo Lopez and brothers Rey and Vic Saludar will try to boost their bids when they plunge into action against separate foes Saturday. The other Filipino hope is Annie Albania, who debuts against Kazakhstan’s Zhaina Shekerbekova in the 48 to 51 kg class (flyweight) Sunday. Miguel Tabuena managed a two-over 74 at the faraway Dragon Lake Golf Club, located about two hours from the Asian Games Town, and slipped to second spot, six shots behind a Korean, going into the final round of individual play. The men’s team hung on to second but is now tied with Thailand at 653, a whopping 29 shots off the leader Korea. Bowling, which has contributed a gold and a bronze to the country’s overall tally, can’t seem to find its winning touch at the Tianhe Bowling Center anymore. The men’s trios of singles gold medalist Biboy Rivera, bronze medalist Frederick Ong and Chester King could only muster a 1900 (ninth) while Collins Jose, Benshir Layoso and Raoul Miranda combined for 1736 (26th). The women’s trios also faltered. Liza Clutario, Liza del Rosario and Marianne Posadas pooled 1975 to stay in sixth place, while Kimberly Lao, Krizziah Tabora and Lara Posadas totaled 1692 for 18th. In team chess, Grandmaster Zhou Jianchao defeated GM John Paul Gomez while GM Ni Hua subdued HM Darwin Laylo as China turned back the Philippines, 3.0-1.0, in the second round. Wesley So salvaged a draw with fellow GM Wang Yue while GM Joey Antonio also split the point with GM Bu Xiangzhi. In the men’s team trap competition, Jethro Dionio, Alex Topacio and Eric Ang combined for a 336 total to finish sixth in the event topped by a group of athletes from Kuwait. The Games got hit with its first doping case as Uzbekistan’s Shokir Muminov, judo’s 81 kg silver medalist, was found with traces of methylhexaneamine in his urine. He was stripped of his medal. Huey plowed past Kumar Adhikari of Nepal, 6-0, 6-1, opting to ply his trade from the baseline to advance to the next round against a still undetermined foe. Mamiit, meanwhile, gutted out a hard-earned 7-5, 7-5 victory over Hong Kong’s Martin Sayer. Mamiit next faces Japanese ace Go Soeda, who ousted Pakistan’s Aqeel Khan, 6-2, 6-4. Mamiit and Huey later teamed up to topple the fifth-seeded Sueda and Kondo, 4-6, 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (1-0).