Phl doc says athletes healthy, competitive

MANILA, Philippines - With the exception of wushu expert Denver Labrador whose toenail had to be cut, other players of the Philippine contingent are doing just fine, says chiropractor and medical team head Dr. Martin Camara.

No major injuries have been listed so far. Athletes go to his clinic for minor injuries like back pains, spasms, shoulder injuries, which only take some stretching and bending routines.

His regular customers are the national swimmers who, he said, are into a lot of pain struggling through the morning heats.

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Chinese Taipei’s hopes of winning a tennis gold took a blow with the injury of Wimbledon quarterfinalist Lu Yen-hsun, who beat Filipino Cecil Mamiit in the singles of the team competition four days ago.

Lu, who beat American Andy Roddick to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals, pulled out of the team event after beating the Philippines and will also miss the singles event which starts tomorrow.

The World No. 37 is Asia’s second highest-ranked after No. 36 Andrey Golubev who is not competing here.

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China’s Huang Guangyan won another wushu gold and put the credit at the door of Hong Kong movie start Jackie Chan. Huang posted the highest score in each of the nunquan and nangun elements of the all-around final for 19.l73 out of a possible 20.

Hong Kong’s He Jingde, a stuntman, took the silver while Vietnam’s Quoc Khanh Phanh, the SEA Games gold medalist, got the bronze.

There was no Philippine entry in the event.