Patrombon, Barbosa early Youth Games casualties

TENNIS ACE Jeson Patrombon and taekwondo-jin Kirk Barbosa suffered stinging defeats on the first day of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore yesterday.   Patrombon succumbed to China’s Ouyang Bowen, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 6-4, and was relegated to the consolation round of the boys’ singles at the Kellang Tennis Center.   Things also fell apart for the country’s lone player in taekwondo as Barbosa dropped an 8-7 decision to Israel’s Haimovitz Gili in the preliminaries.   Patrombon, ranked 42nd in the world, has one more chance to go home with a medal as he is paired with former world No. 1 Yuki Bambri of India in the boys’ doubles.   They will go up against Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Mate Pavic of Croatia in the first round today.   Using his speed to make up for his height disadvantage, Barbosa hacked out a point in the first round to forge a tie with the taller Gili.   Barbosa engaged Gili in a wild skirmish in the next round, but the Israeli pulled away after he was awarded three points for a head blow after a video replay.   Trailing 8-4, Barbosa desperately managed to score three more points in the last round but still fell short in the end.   “Kirk lost his temper in the end because the referee did not command them to fight while the Israeli stalled,” said Philippine chief of mission Mark Joseph, who hailed the courage shown by Patrombon and Barbosa. “But then he did his best to overcame two head blows.”   Swimmers Jasmine Al-Khaldi and Jhessie King Lacuna were to see action late yesterday in their favorite events, the 100-meter freestyle and 200m free, respectively.  

“Both are seeded in fastest heats. That’s good because they will advance to the semifinals and finals,” Joseph, the RP swimming chief, added.