Bright future for Phl jins

MANILA, Philippines - Although the Philippines failed to hit paydirt in taekwondo at the 16th Asian Games, national coach Rocky Samson said yesterday there are clear indications of an emergent upside based on the performance of the six male and six female jins in Guangzhou.

Four jins delivered bronze medals to account for the country’s haul in the sport where 16 golds were up for grabs in eight male and eight female weight divisions. They were Japoy Lizardo (under-54 kilograms), Paul Romero (under-58), Tshomlee Go (under-63) and Kirstie Elaine Alora (under-73).

At the Doha Asian Games four years ago, the Philippines brought back two silvers and three bronzes in taekwondo. Go and Toni Rivero earned silvers while Manuel Rivero, Eunice Alora and Veronica Domingo collected bronzes. The Philippines gained five bronzes at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan through Go, Dindo Simpao, Daleen Cordero, Domingo and Sally Solis.

Go, Rivero, Don Geisler (1998) and Robert Vargas (1994) are the only Filipinos to bag silvers in Asian Games taekwondo history. The gold remains an elusive target.

“We were lucky that our POC officials watched our matches in Guangzhou,” said Samson. “We proved we’re at par with the world’s best in terms of skill level. We had a tough draw unlike in Doha. This time, we went up against seeded opponents in the early rounds. But we did our best. Our goal was to capture at least one gold and we were confident it would come from Tshomlee, Japoy or Marlon (Avenido).”

Go, 29, got off to a strong start, scoring a 9-7 decision over Iran’s Reza Naderian who had beaten him in the Asian Championships two years ago. Then, he crushed Tajikistan’s Khusrav Giyosov, 11-3, to set a semifinals showdown with Korea’s Lee Dae Hoon.

Down 0-2, Go stormed back to even the count, 4-4, at the end of three rounds. It went to sudden death and Lee connected first to snatch the win. Go was reduced to tears. Lee went on to clinch the gold. Lizardo, 25, beat Yemen’s Tameem Al Kubati, 6-4, and Kuwait’s Ajaiman Alojaiman, 9-4, before engaging Korea’s Kim Seong Ho in the semifinals. Lizardo repeatedly struck Kim’s body but the sensors on the Korean’s electronic armor wouldn’t register. The match ended, 7-7, in regulation and in sudden death, Kim stuck out his foot and grazed Lizardo’s face for the marginal points. Kim wound up with the silver.

Avenido, 21, defeated Brunei’s Wadee Hamed Khalil, 7-3, and Saudi Arabia’s Hani Halal Almutrafi, 10-9, then lost to Afghanistan’s Nasar Ahmad Bahawi, 12-11, in sudden death in the under-80 kilogram class. Avenido led, 10-9, at the end of three rounds but the count was leveled because of a point deduction, paving the way for a sudden death finish.

“Marlon got hit by a fist in the face and was down for about three minutes,” said Samson. “It should’ve been a point deduction on Nasar but the referee just gave him a warning. Marlon’s face was bloodied and swollen. Marlon fought with a lot of heart. It wasn’t his fault that he lost.”

Another Filipino jin Jeffrey Figueroa, battling in the under-68 kilogram category, almost made it to the quarterfinals. He downed United Arab Emirates’ Rashed Bila Khamis, 5-3, then was disqualified on his eighth warning in a 6-6 standoff with Tajikistan’s Farkhod Negmatov. Figueroa, 24, was ahead, 3-0, and 6-2, but successive violations were slapped by Libyan referee Joseph Khorvy to settle it at 6-6.

“Jeffrey was up, 6-5, with about 10 seconds left,” said Samson. “He fought with a bad knee and kept falling down, getting seven warnings from the referee. He tried to preserve his lead by moving back. At the buzzer, Jeffrey went out of the line on the mat and got a penalty, giving his opponent one point to make it 6-6. And since it was his eighth infraction which is the limit for a match, he was disqualified. Five of those eight infractions were questionable but it was useless to protest.”

Samson said POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr., secretary-general Steve Hontiveros, vice president Manny Lopez, flag-bearer Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski and Smart executive Bong Mojica witnessed the action in the stadium and were impressed by the jins’ performance.

“Mikee told us she hopes the media will report on what really happened, not just the results,” said Samson. “She saw how our athletes fought for our country. She was very proud. Only Tshomlee, Japoy and Elaine had previous Asian Games experience so we brought in nine newcomers yet they all did very well.”

As a team, the jins posted an overall record of 14 wins and 12 losses. Showing the way with three wins was Romero who defeated Saudi Arabia’s Mamdoh Hamed Almowalad, Singapore’s Jason Tan Jun Wei and Mongolia’s Bilguun Khosbayar before retiring with a right hamstring muscle injury at 0:17 of the third round in the semifinals against eventual gold medalist Wei Chen Yang of Chinese-Taipei.

Picking up their first-ever Asian Games wins were Pauline Lopez (under-46), Samuel Morrison (under-74) and Jade Zafra (under-53). Lopez, 14, is a 4-11 pixie who upset Afghanistan’s Laila Hussaini, 1-0, then gave Jordan’s Dana Touran, the eventual silver medalist, a scare in losing a 10-6 verdict in the quarterfinals. Morrison, 21, thrashed Nepal’s Dan Bandur Airie, 15-5, and battled valiantly in losing a 20-11 decision to Thailand’s Patiwat Thongsalup in the quarterfinals. The 5-10 Zafra, 21, blasted Chinese-Taipei’s Yi Hsuan Tseng, 12-1, and went down fighting to Korea’s Kwon Eun Kyung in a 15-6 defeat.