Tabuena shines on bleak day
GUANGZHOU—Miguel Tabuena played it conservatively throughout, refusing to wilt under the grinding pressure of the final round to grab the silver medal Saturday in the 16th Asian Games men’s individual golf competition.
“I’m shocked,” Tabuena said. “For a 16-year-old to win a silver in golf in the Asian Games is unbelievable.”
The men’s golf squad, however, lost its grip of second place, which it had held either solo or in a tie from Round 1, and dropped to fifth place.
Taekwondo suffered another string of—literally—painful losses, settling for three bronze medals on the final day of the sport in these Games.
The four new medals raised the Philippine count to two golds, two silvers and eight bronzes, but the country continued to slip in the medal tally among Southeast Asian nations.
After leading SEA Games neighbors early on, the Philippines now stood fourth after Thailand finally surged ahead with four golds courtesy of victories in sepak takraw and taekwondo Saturday.
Indonesia and Malaysia have three gold medals each, but the Indons were up a notch in the overall tally because of a 5-4 edge in silver medals.
Tabuena fired an even-par 72 at the Dragon Lake Golf Club to finish at six under for the tournament, nine behind Korean Kim Meen-whee, who virtually locked up the gold in Saturday’s third round with a 67.
Tabuena needed a solid par on his final hole to hold off Taiwanese Hung Chien-yao, who finished with a 69 to get to five under and finish a shot behind Tabuena for the bronze.
Thailand’s Atthachai Jaichalad, who fired a course-record 65 Saturday, ballooned to a 74 and dropped to fourth place.
In boxing, Vic Saludar poured it on in the final round to overcome a tentative start and crush Jumayev Zarip, 12-3, to enter the quarterfinals of the men’s 49-kg division at the Foshan Gymnasium.
Brother Rey was even more spectacular later in the evening, drowning Nepalese Rai Puran with a torrent of punches in their 52 kg bout and forcing three standing eight counts that resulted in a referee-stopped contest. Saludar is now assured of a bronze medal after making the semifinals.
Japoy Lizardo came close to a finals appearance—and a guaranteed silver—when he nailed Korean Kim Seong-ho right at the final buzzer of the third round to tie their under 54kg match at 7-all and force a first-to-score sudden-death round.
But Lizardo failed to control his momentum in a crucial attack and Kim’s counter found the back of Lizardo’s head for the victory.
“I don’t think he even saw where I was,” Lizardo told the Inquirer in Filipino. “He just kicked and unfortunately for me, it landed. I did not see it coming because my back was slightly turned.”
Paul Romero suffered an even more painful semifinal loss in the men’s under 48 kg. He was trailing Taiwanese Wei Chen-yang, 6-0, toward the end of the third round when an exchange between the two jins left the Filipino on the mat writhing in pain.
Romero tore his right hamstring muscle and had to be stretchered out of the Guangdong gymnasium. “He will be evaluated by a medical team to see if he needs to be rushed to the hospital,” said coach Rocky Samson.
Kirstie Alora dropped a 7-3 decision to Kazakhstan’s Feruza Yergeshova, the gold medalist in the Asian Championships in the same 73 kg division.
The three Filipinos settled for bronze medals, racking up the sport’s haul to four after another bronze by Tshomlee Go the day before.
In basketball late Friday night, Smart Gilas battled gamely but saw its rally come up short in the final seconds as Japan escaped with a 60-58 victory to remain unscathed in the preliminary round.
It was the national five’s second loss in three outings, necessitating must-wins in their last two assignments—against India and dangerous Chinese Taipei.
In cycling, Maritess Bitbit finished ninth in the women’s individual time trial, clocking 55:10.12. She was 5:31.76 behind gold winner Lee Min Hye of Korea.
In the men’s competition, Lucien Lloyd Reynante clocked 1:17:20.63 and finished 16th, 9:04.50 seconds behind winner Choe Hyeongmin of South Korea.
Tennis, meanwhile, closed out its campaign without a medal after losses by Cecil Mamiit and Treat Conrad Huey in the singles event foreshadowed another defeat by both players in the doubles competition later in the afternoon.
Japanese third seed Go Soeda fought back from a set down to score a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over the 14th-seeded Mamiit at the Aoti Tennis Center. Fourth seed Tatsuma Ito of Japan eliminated Huey, 6-4, 6-4.
In doubles, third seed Chinese Taipei eliminated the Philippines with Yi Chu-huan and Lee Hsin-han hammering out a 7-6 (1), 6-4 triumph over the pair of Mamiit and Huey.
“I’m shocked,” Tabuena said. “For a 16-year-old to win a silver in golf in the Asian Games is unbelievable.”
The men’s golf squad, however, lost its grip of second place, which it had held either solo or in a tie from Round 1, and dropped to fifth place.
Taekwondo suffered another string of—literally—painful losses, settling for three bronze medals on the final day of the sport in these Games.
The four new medals raised the Philippine count to two golds, two silvers and eight bronzes, but the country continued to slip in the medal tally among Southeast Asian nations.
After leading SEA Games neighbors early on, the Philippines now stood fourth after Thailand finally surged ahead with four golds courtesy of victories in sepak takraw and taekwondo Saturday.
Indonesia and Malaysia have three gold medals each, but the Indons were up a notch in the overall tally because of a 5-4 edge in silver medals.
Tabuena fired an even-par 72 at the Dragon Lake Golf Club to finish at six under for the tournament, nine behind Korean Kim Meen-whee, who virtually locked up the gold in Saturday’s third round with a 67.
Tabuena needed a solid par on his final hole to hold off Taiwanese Hung Chien-yao, who finished with a 69 to get to five under and finish a shot behind Tabuena for the bronze.
Thailand’s Atthachai Jaichalad, who fired a course-record 65 Saturday, ballooned to a 74 and dropped to fourth place.
In boxing, Vic Saludar poured it on in the final round to overcome a tentative start and crush Jumayev Zarip, 12-3, to enter the quarterfinals of the men’s 49-kg division at the Foshan Gymnasium.
Brother Rey was even more spectacular later in the evening, drowning Nepalese Rai Puran with a torrent of punches in their 52 kg bout and forcing three standing eight counts that resulted in a referee-stopped contest. Saludar is now assured of a bronze medal after making the semifinals.
Japoy Lizardo came close to a finals appearance—and a guaranteed silver—when he nailed Korean Kim Seong-ho right at the final buzzer of the third round to tie their under 54kg match at 7-all and force a first-to-score sudden-death round.
But Lizardo failed to control his momentum in a crucial attack and Kim’s counter found the back of Lizardo’s head for the victory.
“I don’t think he even saw where I was,” Lizardo told the Inquirer in Filipino. “He just kicked and unfortunately for me, it landed. I did not see it coming because my back was slightly turned.”
Paul Romero suffered an even more painful semifinal loss in the men’s under 48 kg. He was trailing Taiwanese Wei Chen-yang, 6-0, toward the end of the third round when an exchange between the two jins left the Filipino on the mat writhing in pain.
Romero tore his right hamstring muscle and had to be stretchered out of the Guangdong gymnasium. “He will be evaluated by a medical team to see if he needs to be rushed to the hospital,” said coach Rocky Samson.
Kirstie Alora dropped a 7-3 decision to Kazakhstan’s Feruza Yergeshova, the gold medalist in the Asian Championships in the same 73 kg division.
The three Filipinos settled for bronze medals, racking up the sport’s haul to four after another bronze by Tshomlee Go the day before.
In basketball late Friday night, Smart Gilas battled gamely but saw its rally come up short in the final seconds as Japan escaped with a 60-58 victory to remain unscathed in the preliminary round.
It was the national five’s second loss in three outings, necessitating must-wins in their last two assignments—against India and dangerous Chinese Taipei.
In cycling, Maritess Bitbit finished ninth in the women’s individual time trial, clocking 55:10.12. She was 5:31.76 behind gold winner Lee Min Hye of Korea.
In the men’s competition, Lucien Lloyd Reynante clocked 1:17:20.63 and finished 16th, 9:04.50 seconds behind winner Choe Hyeongmin of South Korea.
Tennis, meanwhile, closed out its campaign without a medal after losses by Cecil Mamiit and Treat Conrad Huey in the singles event foreshadowed another defeat by both players in the doubles competition later in the afternoon.
Japanese third seed Go Soeda fought back from a set down to score a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over the 14th-seeded Mamiit at the Aoti Tennis Center. Fourth seed Tatsuma Ito of Japan eliminated Huey, 6-4, 6-4.
In doubles, third seed Chinese Taipei eliminated the Philippines with Yi Chu-huan and Lee Hsin-han hammering out a 7-6 (1), 6-4 triumph over the pair of Mamiit and Huey.
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