FEU stude bags silver in Universiade

SHENZHEN, China – Samuel Thomas Harper Morrison bagged the country’s first medal – a silver – when he bowed to tough South Korean Kim Hun in the finals of the 68 kg division of the taekwondo competitions in the 26th Summer Universiade.

Morrison, a 21-year-old student from Far Eastern University, won the silver after a series of eliminations that included a win by withdrawal over Wendell Grouby of US Virgin Islands in the round of 32 and a victory over Christopher Dubois of France in the round of 16.

Morrison, who captured the gold medal in the 2010 Korea Open, won over two more opponents in the quarterfinals and semifinals before his gold medal showdown with Hung.

No data were available from the wires and the Phl secretariat.

Jade Zafra and Mary Anjelay Perez earlier hurdled their respective round-of-32 matches to advance to the next round in the kyorugi event at the Shenzen Conference and Exhibition Hall Saturday.

Zafra, the 21-year-old campaigner from University of Santo Tomas who is best remembered for winning the bronze medal in the 2010 Korea Open, defeated Natalia Zakhozha of Ukraine by superiority in the preliminaries to set up a round-of-16 meeting with Marlene Harnois of France in the women’s -57kg.

Harnois drew a bye in the preliminaries.

Perez, at 18 one of the youngest member of the Filipino delegation, defeated Thi Kim Chi Cao of Vietnam, 5-4, in their preliminary match to arrange a round-of-16 showdown against Anatsia Valueva of Russia, who eliminated Katheirne Trinh of the United States, 16-6. in the women’s 46kg

Another Filipino bet – Julian Mickey Cordero – failed to continue the winning streak as he lost 3-4, to Hussein El Sayed of Egypt in the men’s 54kg.

The Filipinos were also not as fortunate in the poomsae competition.

The team of Shaneen Ched Sia, Frances Beatrice Alarilla and Patricia Mae Sembrano finished seventh in the 12-nation competition in the women’s team poomsae.

The Filipinas scored 8.10 points (3.79) to finish slightly behind Spain for sixth place with 8.11 but well ahead of Italy, United States, Thailand, Egypt and Macau.

Korea topped the event with 8.65 points, followed by Vietnam with 8.50, China with 8.49 points, Iran with 8.32 points and Mexico with 8.22.

Overall, Korea swept the gold medals in both the men’s and women’s team poomsae as well as the mixed team poomsae, while China clinched the golds in the men’s and women’s individual poomsae.

China bagged the silver, while Iran and Vietnam took the bronzes in the men’s team poomsae, while Iran took the silver and China and Vietnam the bronzes in the women’s team poomsae.

Vietnam bagged the silver in the mixed team poomsae, while Germany and Mexico took the bronzes.

The other leading Filipino taekwondo medal hopefuls – Marlon Avenido (UST, bronze in 2010 Kazakhstan Asian Championships) in the men’s 80kg; Paul Romero (UST, bronze in 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games) in the men’s 74kg; and Camille Manalo (UST, UAAP Season 73 Athlete of the Year) in the women’s 62kg. – have yet to see action.

Also in the Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines-supported team are Devy John Singson (men’s 58 kg), Christian Al de la Cruz ( men’s 74kg) and Jose Anthony Soriano (men’s 87kg) in the men’s division; and Maria Cecilia Viray (women’s 49kg), and Karla Jane Alava ( women’s 53kg) in the women’s category.

FESSAP president David Ong and chef de mission Alvin Tai Lian congratulated the Filipino taekwondo jins for their smashing starts and urged them to continue to perform well for the country.

Elsewhere: Melvin Guerte finished 36th in the men’s 800-m run with a time of 1:53.32 at the Universaide Center Stadium.

Guerte, who turned only 19 last Aug. 3, finished sixth in lane 4.

Fred Samoei of Kenya topped th event with a time of 1:46.23, followed by Ahmed Manny of Mauritiues with a time of 1:47.65 and Anis Ananenka of Belarus with a time of 1:48.95.

Last Thursday, Guerte wound up 30th in the men’s 1,500-m with a time of 3:59.39.

Jan Roldan Oriendo and Chrismar Tuason completed a double celebration for the Filipinos in chess competitions when they won over Emydb Madugalle of Sri Lanka and Byunghee Lee of South Korea, respectively, in the seventh round at the Plum Blossom Hall of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibiition Hall.

Oriendo, a student of Polytechnic University of the Philippines, raised his score to 3.5 points on three wins, one draw and three losses and moved up to a tie for 40th to 51st places in the 86-player field.

.The Filipino, however, is three full points behind GM Li Chao of China, who outduelled compatriot top seed GM Wang Hao in their top board encounter to keep the solo lead with 6.5 points.

GM Zaven Andriasyan of Armenia subdued GM Vasily Papin of Russia, GM Manuel Philip Braun of Germany toppled GM Avetik Grgoryan of Armenia , GM Hrant Melkumyan of Armenia whipped GM Pawel Czarnoa of Poland and GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov of Russia outclassed GM Mikhal Olzzewski of Poland to share second to fifth places places with 5.5 points.

Tuason improved to two points. On two wins and five losses, good for a tie for 74 th to 81 st places.

The twin victories came after Oriendo lost to IM Tirta Chandra Purnama of Indonesia and Tuason bowed to David Muwanguzi of Uganda in the sixth round.

In the women’s division, Angelica Dilim outplayed Felicia Woon of Malaysia to improve to 2.5 points on two wins, one draw and four losses.

Dilim is now tied for 48th to 54th places in the 63-player tournament.

Dilim, another PUP student, lost to Brandy Leso of Bostwana in the sixth round.

In basketball, the Philippines forfeited its classification match for 17th to 23rd places against South Korea and formally withdrew.

The Filipinos, represented by the University of Cebu, lost all their five matches in the tough, six-nation Group C of the preliminary stage.

The team returned home to Cebu late Friday night.