Aligaga, 3 other fighters barge into finals

NAY PYI TAW, Myanmar—Flashing the form that saw him rule the world championship early this year, Jessie Aligaga overcame his Vietnamese foe Sunday to reach the finals of the 48 kg wushu sanshou competition of the 27th Southeast Asian Games.

The Iloilo-born warrior, a two-time world champion, eliminated Vietnam’s Van Vau To with a 2-1 decision to become one of four Filipino fighters to advance to gold medal matches of the competition at Wunna Thaik Di Stadium.

Left heartbroken after the men’s duilian team of Daniel Parantac, Norlence Catolico and John Keithley Chan settled for the silver behind a Burmese trio, the wushu team rebounded emphatically through its sanda fighters.

Aligaga will face Dasmantua Simbolon in the finals, after the Indonesian crushed Thein Hteik Oo of Myanmar,

2-0.

Divine Wally also assured herself of a silver medal in the women’s 48 kg division, after blanking Chi Leng Lim of Malaysia, 2-0. Standing in her way is Vietnam’s Thi Chinh Nguyen.

Also making the finals were Evita Zamora in the women’s 52 kg and Dermbert Arcita in the men’s 52 kg division. Zamora prevailed over Dangsone Buddybuasisav of Laos, 2-0, for a shot at the gold medal against Thu Hoai Nguyen of Vietnam.

Arcita registered a 2-0 win over Harba Sibuea of Indonesia to earn the right to face Pithak Paokrathok of Thailand.

Parantac also returned with a brilliant performance in the first round of taijiquan event. He tallied a 9.7 out of a perfect 10 score in  taijiquan and only a disastrous performance in taijiquan event will deny him of a chance to advance.

Only Francisco Solis’ 0-2 defeat to Khamla Sou Kapone of Laos in the men’s 56 kg division turned out to be the only blot to an otherwise productive day for the wushu bets.