Asian Games: PH judokas’ woes continue

FILE – The Philippines’ Kiyomi Watanabe competes during the women’s judo -63 kg in the 30th SEA Games. INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon

HANGZHOU, China — The struggle continues for the Philippine judo team as Dylwynn Gimena and Carl Dave Aseneta bombed out in the 19th Asian Games at Xiaoshan Linpu Gymnasium here on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Gimena fell prey to Khuslen Otgonbayar of Mongolia via ippon in the Round of 16 of the women’s -78-kilogram class while the 26-year-old Aseneta surrendered to Won Jonghoon of South Korea also via ippon in the Round of 16 of the men’s -100-kg event.

With Gimena and Aseneta’s elimination, the team suffered a shutout in individual events as all of its athletes failed to advance past the quarterfinals.

The team’s brightest hope Kiyomi Watanabe, 2018 Asian Games silver medalist, lost to Japanese top seed Miku Takaichi in the quarterfinal of the women’s -63kg category on Monday.

Watanabe started hot as she beat Vietnam’s Ngoc Diem Phuong Nguyen but failed to sustain her form against Takaichi.

Philippine Judo Federation secretary general David Carter said their athletes were prepared but luck simply didn’t go their way.

“They were ready to compete but the luck of the draw didn’t go our way,” said Carter.

Also going home without individual medals are Leah Jhane Lopez (women’s -48-kg), Shugen Nakano (men’s -66-kg), Rena Furukawa (women’s 57-kg), John Viron Ferrer (men’s -80-kg), Ryoko Salinas (women’s -70-kg), and Kyodo Nakano (men’s -73-kg).

The Filipinos, however, still have a chance to come up with a strong finish as they compete in the mixed team event on the final day of competition on Wednesday.