Jin Lopez blows Olympic bid

Pauline Louise Lopez failed to chase down her opponent for one solid head kick and saw her Olympic dream vanish.

The last surviving Filipino jin in the Asia Olympic Qualifying Tournament missed the cut for the Rio De Janeiro Olympics after bowing to Phannapa Harnsujin of Thailand, 5-2, Sunday night at the Marriott Grand Ballroom.

Lopez got tagged by a stealthy high kick on the head late in the first round, an early 3-0 deficit that prompted her to hound Harnsujin all over the mat throughout in their women’s -57kg confrontation.

“I told myself I’ll get it back and that’s what I tried to do the whole match,” said Lopez, a pretty and pleasant 19-year-old based in Los Angeles, California.

The 2013 Asian Youth Games gold medalist finally scored in the final 46 seconds on a penalty but Harnsujin, silver medalist in the 2014 US Open, sneaked in a punch and a side kick in between.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t go my way,”said Lopez.

Lopez, a Southeast Asian Games and Pan Am Open gold medalist, earlier pulled off a 4-2 win over Malaysia’s Nuruk Farah Alisa Roslan to set up the duel with Harnsujin in the semifinals.

She connected with an explosive kick to the abdomen following a penalty on Roslan to gain control, 2-1, late in the second round.

On panic mode, Roslan chased her that proved futile as Lopez had another clear shot at the mid-section in the third round before finishing off the match with a cracking punch to the chest.

Kirstie Elaine Alora claimed an Olympic berth on Saturday at the expense of No.1 seed Akram Khodabandeh of Iran in the women’s +67kg semifinals on Saturday.

Alora took a 5-0 beating against Asian Games champion Sorn Seavmey in the finals, but it hardly mattered as she brought Philippine taekwondo back to the Olympics since Tshomlee Go and Marie Antonette Rivero played in 2008 Beijing.