Three Pinoy jins assured of bronze

MANILA, Philippines - Jeff Figueroa crushed Muaadh Najiahmed Abadl of Yemen, 7-3, while two other bets barged into the semifinal round of taekwondo as the Philippines assured itself of three bronze medals in the first Asian Martial Arts Games yesterday at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok.

Figueroa earlier demolished Oken Meiti Mutum of India, 7-0, in the preliminaries of the men’s bantamweight class then dominated Abadl to arrange a semifinal showdown with SEA Games rival Nattapong Tewawetchapong of Thailand.

Karla Alava and Marlon Avenido also scored victories in contrasting fashions in their respective weight classes as the Filipinos got back into the thick of things in the 41-nation meet.

Alava escaped with a nail-biting 3-2 win over local bet Natthaya Sangsasiton in the quarterfinals of the women’s bantamweight class while Avenido routed Vo Hoang Giao of Vietnam, 5-1, in the quarterfinals of the men’s welterweight class.

All semifinal matches were being held late yesterday.

“We did not prepare anything special, I just told them to go out there and play your best – nothing more, nothing less,” said RP team coach Hong Sik Kim.

“These kids are the future of Philippine taekwondo. They want to give their 100 percent all the time. They know what it takes to win,” said Hong.

The jins’ romp made up for the RP bets’ faulty start in the nine-day competition after judoka John Baylon and jins Alex Briones and Japoy Lizardo fell by the wayside.

Kristie Elaine Alora of taekwondo and Karen Ann Solomon of judo actually saved the day for Team RP last Monday with the former settling for silver after dropping a 0-1 decision to Yeh Fung Chiang of Taipei in the finals of the women’s middleweight category.

Solomon crushed Settiawatti Kamishihogatame Ippon of Indonesia in the repechage of the women’s middleweight class to cop a bronze medal.

Meanwhile, the RP wushu bets arrived yesterday and will open their respective campaigns tomorrow.

Taekwondo powerhouse Korea continued to dominate with eight gold, four silver and three bronze medals while Japan is in the second with five gold, one silver and one bronze medal following stunning victories in judo and kickboxing.