FI:E–Philippines’ Wally Divine (blue) grapples with Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Chinh (red) during the women’s Sanda 48 kg category in the Wushu competition final in the 30th South East Asian Games 2019. INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine wushu team added four bronze medals in sanda to cap its 31st Southeast Asian Games stint on Sunday at Cau Giay Gymnasium in Vietnam.
Four athletes settled for third place after losing to Vietnamese opponents in the semifinal round in four different sanda events.
Clemente Tagubara Jr. fell to Van Tai Nguyen of Vietnam, 0-1, in the men’s sanda 70kg semifinal.
Francisco Solis also yielded to a hometown bet, Van Chuong Truong, 0-2, in the 65kg semis, while Gideon Padua placed third after a 0-2 loss to Vietnamese Truong Giang Bui in the 60kg.
Divine Wally, the lone female athlete of the country in sanda, also nabbed a bronze medal as she fell short to Thi Chinh Nguyen, 1-2, in the women’s 48kg semifinal.
Arnel Mandal was the country’s lone gold medalist in sanda after beating Indonesia’s Laksmana Pandu Pratama in the men’s 56kg final.
Mandal and women’s taolu taijijian gold medalist Agatha Wong together with the whole Philippine wushu team arrived home on Monday morning.