Team Philippines shined in what is considered as two of its national sports in Day Ten of the ongoing 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
The national sepak takraw team bagged the bronze medal in the men’s quadrant event, showing a gallant stand against mighty Indonesia in a grueling three-set loss, 21-15, 24-25, 17-21, that lasted an hour and 15 minutes.
The team composed of Jason Huerte, Mark Jason Gonzales, Rheyjey Ortuoste, Ronsited Gabayeron, Jom Lerry Rafael, and Vince Alyson Tormo nonetheless won the country’s first ever Asian medal in a national sport locally known as sipa.
Japan won the other bronzed medal after losing to Myanmar, setting up a final between two Southeast Asian powers.
With the achievement, the Philippines remained on track of winning at least a medal a day and now has one gold, one silver, and nine bronzes for 20th place in the current medal board.
In men’s basketball, Gilas Pilipinas staved off a huge scare from dethroned silver medalist Iran, 84-83, in the quarterfinals.
With 44 seconds to go, long-time Ginebra import and naturalized player Justin Brownlee sank a driving fadeaway from the weak side against the hulking Arsalan Kazemi for the winning basket, as Matin Aghajanpour failed to answer by muffing his wide open right corner three.
Iran managed to climb back from a 21-point deficit in the third quarter but spitfire Mohammadsina Vahedi exploded for 14 points in the fourth quarter to keep Iran’s medal hopes alive.
It was a see-saw battle in the last two minutes as San Miguel star June Mar Fajardo and Navid Rezaifar exchanged go-ahead baskets before the final one sealed by Brownlee.
Brownlee led the Gilas charge with 36 points while Fajardo added 18. Both stars hauled eight boards and four dimes each.
With the win, the Philippines has returned to the semifinals of the Asiad men’s basketball tourney for the first time since 2002, a squad then coached by current assistant Jong Uichico.
Current head coach Tim Cone seeks to duplicate a medal finish Gilas last achieved in 1998, which also was Cone’s previous national head coaching duty.
The Philippines will face China tomorrow evening in the winner-take-all semis.
In track and field, the men’s relay team of Umajesty Williams, Frederick Ramirez, Joyme Sequita, and Miguel Carlo del Prado topped Heat B and placed third overall to enter the final of the 4×400 m. race, also set tomorrow.
The Philippines had a breakthrough in squash, as the duo of Jemyca Aribado and Robert Andrew Garcia surprised the Indian duo of Dipika Karthik and Harinder Pal Sanghu in the first set but failed to sustain their advantage, losing in three sets, 11-7, 5-11, 4-11, in the mixed doubles quarterfinals.
Also ending in the quarterfinals is the campaign of Olympic flyweight silver medalist Carlo Paalam, who struggled big time against Uzbekistan’s Abdumalik Khalokov of the men’s featherweight division, losing via unanimous decision.
This leaves light heavyweight Eumir Marcial as the only Pinoy pug remaining as he battles against Syria’s Ahmad Ghousoon tomorrow at 3:15 PM.
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