Filipino jins blow bids for London Games

MANILA, Philippines - The Filipino jins suffered stinging setbacks against stronger rivals and bowed out of the Asian Taekwondo Championship in Thailand, the second and last qualifier to next year’s Olympic Games in London.

John Paul Lizardo, a gold medalist in the recent SEA Games in Indonesia, beat Yemen’s Tameem Al-Kubati, 14-10, in the round-of-16 but lost to Vietnamese Le Huynh Chau, 4-9, in their battle for a semifinal seat in the -58kg category.

Chau skipped the SEAG event to concentrate on this Olympic qualifier.

Ma. Camille Manalo, also a gold medal winner in the SEAG, took a 4-16 defeat to Japanese Mayu Hamada in the -57kg division while Kristie Alora, another SEAG gold medalist, fell to Nepal’s Mahita Shahi in the -67kg section.

The fourth and last member of the team, SEAG bronze medal winner Samuel Morrison, was likewise eliminated following a 9-15 setback to Hong Kong’s Yeung Tsz Wing.

The Phl thus failed to send taekwondo jins to the Olympics for the first time since the sport was introduced as a regular event in the 2000 Sydney Games.

The Bangkok meet is the last of two Olympic qualifiers with the first held last June 25 to July 4 in Baku, Azerbaijan where the Phl fielded in Lizardo, Jyra Marie Lizardo, Marlon Avenido and Jade Zafra.