Thai jin stuns Beijing-bound Rivero

NAKHON RATCHASIMA – The Philippines suffered near misses in various fronts in combat sports in the 24th Southeast Asian Games last night.

There was no bigger setback than the one suffered by Beijing Olympic-bound Mary Antoinette Rivero in taekwondo’s 67kg final against hometown bet Haller Cassandra.

The RP jins settled for two silvers and two bronzes in the initial burst of taekwondo actions at Vongchavalitkul Hall with Alexander Briones also ending up losing finalist in men’s 84kg and Ernesto Juan Mendoza III and Maria Criselda Roxas beaten in the semifinals in men’s 78kg and women’s 67kg, respectively.

Michael Alejandrino and Katherine Ann Bunyi fell by the wayside right after their opening matches.

Rivero was so impressive in a 7-0 quarterfinal round win over Myanmar’s Ywet Wah Htun, which she followed up with another 7-0 win over Vietnamese Thi Ngoc Tram in the semifinals.

She figured in a fierce fight with Cassandra in the final but lost the match by a point, 4-5.

Briones, meanwhile, lost his gold medal match to Vietnamese Nguyen Trong Cuong, 4-7, after pounding Malaysian Wong Kai Meng, 7-1, in the semifinals.

RP karatedo, meanwhile, produced a silver and a bronze courtesy of Noel Espinosa and Hector Franco, respectively.

Espinosa took the silver in individual men’s kata as he topped Myanmar’s Kyaw Kyaw Tun, Cambodia’s Eang Kakada, Thailand’s Chonlaphan Sanphasit before finding his match in Malaysia Ku Jin Keat in the final. – Nelson Beltran