Team Philippines has tallied its first medal on Sunday in the opening of the medal rounds of the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, courtesy of a bronze from former UAAP champion Patrick King Perez in the men’s individual poomsae event in taekwondo.
The two-time SEA Games silver medalist from De La Salle University defeated Souksavanh Chanthilath of Laos and Prem Bahadur Limbu of Nepal in the preliminary rounds but fell short in the semifinals, 6.91-7.45, against eventual silver medalist Ma Yun-Zhong of Taiwan.
Kang Wan-jin of South Korea topped the event while Vietnam’s Tran Ho Duy snagged the other bronze medal.
The Philippines previously won two bronze medals in Jakarta in the forms discipline of taekwondo.
Bemedalled wushu artist Agatha Wong was just three-hundredths of a point short of a repeat podium finish in the combined womens’ taijiquan+taijijian event, placing third in the latter but was pulled down by a seventh place rank in the former for a combined 19.456 points for fourth place.
Hong Kong’s Chen Suijin got the bronze medal with 19.476 points to upset Wong, who placed third in this event in 2018.
Tong Xin of China won the gold while Brunei’s Basma Lachkar snagged a rare silver medal for her country.
Pinoy park skaters impressed earlier today, with nine-year-old girl wonder Mazel Paris Alegado entering tomorrow’s finals, placing seventh in the preliminaries of the women’s event while on the men’s side, Jojit Francisco, Jr. recovered from a disastrous spill on his first ran to place third overall with 77.86 score on his second run.
The finals for both events are set on Monday, starting at 9:30 AM for the women’s event.
On the sands of Ningbo Banbianshan, Beach Volleyball Republic champions Dij Rodriguez and Gen Eslapor vanquished Macau, 21-15, 21-15, to set a quarterfinals date against the powerhouse Japanese duo of Olympian Miki Ishii and Sayaka Mizoe.
Not as lucky were reigning UAAP high school champions Khylem Progella and Grydelle Matibag, who bowed to the Thai pair of Woranayatchakorn Phirachayakrailert and Charanrutwad Patcharamainaruebhorn in 16-21, 23-25 naibiter.
The quartet of two-time Olympic medalist Kayla Sanchez, Jasmine Alkhaldi, Xiandi Chua, and Tiea Salvino settled for fifth place in the final of the women’s 4×100 meter freestyle event in swimming.
The Filipinas clocked in 3:44.31 minutes despite a strong start by Sanchez, who swam just less than a second behind China’s Yang Junxuan and Japan’s Nagisa Ikemoto for third place in the first one hundred meters.
However, Chua dropped the podium baton on her turn while the last Filipina swimmer Alkhaldi was overtaken by Singapore’s Amanda Lim.
China, Japan, and Hong Kong were the top three countries in the race.
In the boxing preliminaries, it only took Ashley Fajardo just ten seconds to dispose Bhutan’s Dorji Wangdi in the men’s lightweight division of boxing, delivering a savage left hook to Wangdi’s jaw for a technical knockout.
Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial likewise made mincemeat out of Mongolia’s Dalai Ganzorig, winning via 30-25 unanimous decision in the men’s light heavyweight division.
Wushu fighters Arnel Mandal (men’s 56 kg.) and Gideon Padua (men’s 60 kg.) likewise cruised through to the quarterfinals, defeating Sunil Mayanglambam of India and Ausma Pengthai of Thailand, respectively.
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