Korean throws PH judo bet out

LONDON—Filipino-Japanese judoka Tomohiko Hoshina bowed to a taller, more nimble South Korean foe by ippon (full-point throw) Friday and tumbled out of the 30th London Olympics in just over a minute at ExCeL  North Arena 2 here.

The 22-year-old son of a Japanese soldier from Shizuoka Prefecture and a Filipino mother from Malolos, Bulacan, didn’t stand a chance against the composed Korean veteran Kim Sung-min in their first-round heavyweight (plus 100 kilogram) clash.

Giving away four inches in height, the 276-pound Hoshina gallantly tried to engage Kim in close-quarter combat only to be wrestled to the mat twice. The fateful conclusion came Kim scraped together a solid jersey hold and then briskly stepped sideways for the match-clinching throw.

A split second after Hoshina’s feet cleared the mat, he landed hard on his back and out of his maiden Olympics.

“The Korean was very, very strong,” the Olympic flash news bureau quoted Hoshina as saying. “I momentarily lost focus in the match.”

“Hindi na nakaporma (He never gave himself a chance),” said Joe Antonio, the PH delegation’s hard-working press attache, who watched the action at the roar-soaked arena by the River Thames. “I thought Hoshina fought bravely, though.”

Hoshina’s unexpectedly quick defeat came on the eve of the much-anticipated boxing clash between light flyweight Mark Anthony Barriga and Kazakhstan’s Birzhan Zhakypov at the massive exhibition facility’s South Arena.

The secondary school teacher from Fuji City became the seventh Filipino athlete to crash out of these Games, leaving only Barriga, BMX rider Daniel Caluag, long jumper Marestella Torres and 5,000-meter runner Rene Herrera to carry on for the 11-athlete Philippine contingent.

The 5-foot Barriga, the country’s brightest hope for a cherished medal here apart from the Filipino-American Caluag, gives away six inches in height when he climbs the ring at 1:45 p.m. (8:45 p.m. in Manila) in the second round of the 49-kilogram category.

A victory for Barriga, the 19-year-old “Little Pacquiao,” as he is called by fellow fighters in his weight class, will reward him a quarterfinal clash with either defending Olympic champion and one-time tormentor Zou Shiming of China or Cuba’s rapid-firing Yosbany Soto.

Zhakypov is also said to have been struggling to make the weight limit and telegraphed a shortness of breath in his disputed first-round win over France’s Jeremy Beccu Tuesday.

“Parang nagbabawas ng timbang. Ang daling hingalin doon sa unang laban (He looks to be still trying to shed excess weight. He showed it in his first fight),” said Barriga’s coach Roel Velasco, “Pero trabaho pa rin tayo. Mahirap na ang mag-kumpiyansa (But we still have to work hard and should not be overconfident).”

Incidentally, Zhakypov’s highly controversial 81-17 win over France’s Jeremy Beccu Tuesday became one of the basis for a complaint lodged by several national boxing teams here Wednesday over what they claimed was biased officiating.

Caluag shoots for one of four berths in his eight-man heat in the BMX (bicycle motocross) event on Aug. 8, his credentials as a four-time No. 1 pro rider in the United States preceding him.