Payla ends medal drought

DOHA — Heavy rains pounded this desert city Thursday, delaying the staging of several outdoor games, causing traffic jams along its busy, narrow streets and the untimely death of an equestrian from South Korea.

Amidst all the confusion, the Philippines remained without a medal midway in Day 7 of the Asian Games here.

Until Violito Payla ended the drought with an emphatic RSC-O (referee stopped contest-outscored) victory over Indian Jitender Kumar to reach the semis of the flyweight division and assure the country of a bronze medal in boxing at the Aspire Hall 5.

Flicking away jabs and connecting with his left straights, Payla dominated Kumar, piling an 11-2 lead after the first round then punishing his rival with 7-1 and 9-4 scores in the next two before the referee stepped in to stop the fight in 1:23 of the third.

Payla raised his arms in triumph and thousands of Filipinos here whooped it up in various venues where LCD screens are set up with millions more back home expected to celebrate the victory that finally snapped a week-long medal-less stint by the Filipino athletes in various fronts.

The 27-year-old Payla guns for a crack at the gold against Chinese Bo Yang on Sunday. Yang whipped Korean Lee Ok Sung, 41-21, in the other quarterfinal duel in the 51kg division.

Hopes are also high, again, for the men’s bowling team as the fivesome of Paeng Nepomuceno, Biboy Rivera, Markwin Tee, CJ Suarez and Chester King placed third behind Korea and Qatar with half of the 20 team still had to complete play in the first block of the men’s five-player team final at the Qatar Bowling Center.

The second and final block will be played Friday starting at 1:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. in Manila).

Àlso in the heat of battle are the RP bets in taekwondo, where finweight John Paul Lizardo advanced to the last 8 with a 2-0 win over Bangladeshi Wahid Bin Azim in the 54kg category where no South Korean is entered, thus turning the fight for medal wide open.

Lizardo, the reigning SEA Games champion, takes on Dalam Imam of Indonesia in a late afternoon match for a spot in the medal round.

However, Donald Geisler, who drew a first-round bye, was crushed by Thailand’s Thongsalap Patiwat, 3-6, in the 72kg category.

Eunice Alora fights in the ladies finweight against Kuwaiti Ai Sha Al Amer for a quarterfinal spot with the semis and the finals in the 47kg division slated to finish late Thursday.

Veronica Domingo, drawing a bye, could deliver the first taekwondo medal for RP with a victory over Libyan Carina Hammoud in their quarterfinal duel in the 63.5kg category.

Over at the Lusail Shooting Range, Paul Brian Rosario stood in 31st place with a 64 after the first round of the two-day men’s skeet eliminations paced by Qu Ridong of China with a 75. Patricio Bernardo was in 34th with 63 while Darius Hizon made a 59 for 39th place.

In the final day of swimming at the Hamad Aquatic Centre, Miguel Molina took the last spot in 200m breaststroke final by finishing third in his heat in 219.30 but compatriot Gerard Bordado failed to make the grade in 2:23.96.

Also failing to make it to the finals set late afternoon was Ryan Arabejo, who clocked 28.69 and finished seventh in his heat in the 50m backstroke.

But the rainy day was marred by the death of equestrian athlete Kim Hyung-Chil of Korea, who died after falling from his horse during the cross country competition Thursday morning.

Kim, 47, who won silver at the Asian Games in Busan four years ago, fell from his horse Bundaberg Black while attempting the eighth fence at Sports City Temporary Venue in Doha.

Also failing to make it to the finals set late afternoon was Ryan Arabejo, who clocked 28.69 and finished seventh in his heat in the 50m backstroke.

But the rainy day was marred by the death of equestrian athlete Kim Hyung-Chil of Korea, who died after falling from his horse during the cross country competition Thursday morning.

Kim, 47, who won silver at the Asian Games in Busan four years ago, fell from his horse Bundaberg Black while attempting the eighth fence at Sports City Temporary Venue in Doha.