RP jins claim two more golds

Vientiane – Two brave taekwondo jins produced the gold medals that gave Team Philippines a little push in its drive for glory as it struggled amidst the loss of its world class billiards players and the withdrawal of 2007 gold medalist Maritess Bitbit in the 25th Southeast Asian Games here yesterday.

Two-time Olympian Mary Antoinette Rivero nailed down the gold, beating Vietnamese bet Nguyen Thi Duong, 9-3, in the welterweight (67 kg) class of taekwondo following silver medal finishes in the 2007 SEAG and in last year’s Asian championships.

Alexander Briones established his dominance in the heavyweight class, crushing Elit Soon of Cambodia, 17-5, to gain the country’s second gold of the day and third overall.

The first gold of the Filipinos came from the poomsae team of taekwondo a day earlier.

The golden efforts of the Filipino jins at least negated the effects of three huge losses – one from the billiards hall, the other from road race and the third from the boxing arena.

World champions Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante crashed out of the 9-Ball doubles competitions right in the first round, and moments later the pair of Reynaldo Grandea and Warren Kiamco got soundly beaten, 3-0, in the English Billiards doubles.

The Philippines also “lost’ one more gold in cycling.

In a noontime conference yesterday, Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco announced that Bitbit, the top gold medal hopeful of the cycling team, also decided not to compete, joining 12 other compatriots who were not allowed by the international cycling federation (UCI) to compete.

And, in an event where the Filipinos are expected to deliver the most number of golds, Fil-Am Ryan Arabejo took only the silver in the 100m freestyle in swimming.

In lawn tennis, the men’s team of Cecil Mamiit, Treat Huey, Johnny Arcilla and Patrick John Arcilla defeated Laos, 3-0, and advanced to the semifinals against Indonesia.

The women’s team edged Vietnam, 2-1, and reached the semis against powerhouse Thailand.

Rivero, silver medalist in the 2007 SEA Games, the 2008 China Asian taekwondo championships and the Vietnam Asian qualifying for the Beijing Olympics, gave her opponent little room for counterattack after earning the first point.

“She wasn’t able to recover after I made the first point,” said Rivero who defeated Laos contender Valy Mathmanisone, 2-1, in the semifinal of the event where only three countries were entered.

The surprisingly lack of entries in the heavyweight class was also a bonus for Briones who only had to beat Dinh Quang Toan of Vietnam, 2-0, in the three-entry division before advancing to the afternoon finals where he easily disposed of Soon.

Briones hurdled Basuki Nugroho of Indonesia, 4-3, in the prelims, Dam Srichan of Thailand in the semis, 4-3, to enter the gold medal round.

Two others who advanced to the finals were not as lucky. Marlon Avenido, fighting in the welterweight (80kg) class, bowed to mighty Vietnamese fighter Luong Minh Dat.

Dat advanced to the finals a formidable favorite after he knocked out Myanmar jin Zar Ni Htun, who was brought unconscious on a stretcher to the hospital.

Kirstie Elaine Alora completely outclassed Lee Wan Yuen of Malaysia, 10-1, in the heavyweight bout where the organizers waived the seven-margin mercy rule but got nipped by Thai Rapatkorn Prasopsuk, 4-3, to settle for the silver.

Middleweight bet Criselda Roxas was eliminated right in the first round, yielding to tough Vietnamese rival Nguyen Ha Thi, 1-0.