All quiet on the Philippine front

GUANZHOU – Filipino boxer Annie Albania fought relentlessly, landing stiff right crosses and straights to outclass a Kazakh opponent and step into the quarterfinal round of the women’s 48-51 kg quarterfinal round yesterday.

After that, nothing else was new.

In other events of the day – bowling, wrestling, track and field – the Filipinos absorbed numbing defeats and only the unfinished match in basketball which the Filipinos hoped to win served as antidote to an otherwise tragic day.

Albania didn’t have to size up Kazakh Zhaina Sherbekova to decide on her offensive. She went for the kill from the opening bell and controlled the match, capping it with a standing 8-count towards the end for a 9-2 victory and a place in the quarterfinals.

That victory served polite notice to her detractors that they, she said, should not yet count her out yet after her first-round loss in the World Championships last August.

She joined early men qualifiers Wilfredo Lopez and siblings Rey and Victorio Saludar in the quarterfinals, raising hopes of a gold medal for the Philippine contingent.

As of late yesterday, the Philippines was 15th overall with the same 2-2-8 gold-silver-bronze medals it had the other day as China continued its surge to a record-matching 183 gold medals in 1990 with its 143-68-69 for the day.

Even the combined output of Korea (53-44-60), Japan (29-53-58), Iran (8-13-9) and Hong Kong (7-13-9) couldn’t come close enough to the awesome might of the Chinese in men’s and women’s competitions in virtually all sports.

In the Southeast Asian race, Thailand was at sixth (7-7-21), Malaysia at 10th (4-7-7) Indonesia at 11th (4-6-10) and Singapore at 12th (4-6-6), underscoring the country’s low ranking in competitions outside the SEA Games.

The Philippines beat Thailand, 1-0, in softball for a repeat of its win in the Southeast Asian Championships. It was the Blu Girls first win after bowing to China and Chinese Taipei.

They must beat Korea to salvage a berth in the semis. The Koreans dropped three straight games to Chinese Taipei (2-1), Japan (4-0) and China (4-0).

In basketball late last night, the Philippines was scheduled to play India, seeking a third win against two losses to formalize its entry to the quarterfinals.

At the Tianhe Bowling Hall, the men’s team-of-five of singles gold medalist Biboy Rivera, Chester King, Benshir Layoso, Frederick Ong and Raoul Miranda finished 12th in the first block and was virtually out of the medal race even before the results of the second block were known.

King tallied 657, Rivera 640, Miranda 605, Ong 561, Layoso 531 and Ong 186 for 2994 pinfalls. They were 361 behind Malaysia (3355), 262 behind Qatar and 245 behind Japan.

The women’s team of Liza Clutario, Liza del Rosario Kimberly Mae Loa, Lara Posadas and Marianne Daisy Posadas was playing in the first block of the five-woman team event last night.

Graeco Roman wrestler Margarito Angana (555kg) was out of the quarterfinals with an injury. The Philippine medical team, however, said no injury was yet reported.

Southeast Asian Games champion Arniel Ferrera heaved the hammer to a distance of 58.06m on his second attempt, but needed a throw over 66.38m to match the third best throw by a Japanese hurler to be in contention for the medal. Only three of five throws among 11 participants were completed at press time.