Asian Games: Arnel Mandal delivers PH’s first silver medal

Wushu sanda artist Arnel Mandal bags the Philippines’ first silver medal in the Asian Games 2023. –JUNE NAVARRO

HANGZHOU, CHINA—Arnel Mandal will bring home a silver medal for Team Philippines in wushu, the country’s first at the Asian Games here.

The former Filipino world champion threw volume punches and aggressively clinched in a drastic bid to take down China’s Jiang Haidong and yet these efforts weren’t enough.

After a pair of two-minute rounds, Jiang’s hand was raised by the referee in a 2-0 gold-medal triumph in the men’s 56kg sanda.

“I didn’t everything I could, but I wasn’t fortunate enough,” said the 27-year-old Mandal.

Arnel Mandal gives Team PH 1st silver medal after losing to China’s Jiang Haidong in sanda’s men’s 56kg finals in the Asian Games pic.twitter.com/25Mh6WUHVj

— June Navarro (@junavINQ) September 28, 2023

It was the first silver for the country, which also claimed four bronzes, three of them in wushu.

Sanda fighter Gideon Padua settled for a bronze in the men’s 60kg after Filipino wushu officials decided not to field the Baguio City pride in the finals due to a broken nose bridge.

Padua hurt his nose in an impressive quarterfinal win over Turkmenistan’s Agajumageldi Yazymov on Tuesday night.

“We don’t want to risk it. He has to undergo surgery and miss the world championships at the end of the year,’’ said Wushu Federation of the Philippines president Freddie Jalasco.

Clemente Tabugara Jr. was likewise assured of a bronze after downing Kazakhstan’s Abdusamat Ashirov in the men’s 65kg quarterfinals.