Koreans blast Qataris, send Kazakhs to semis

INCHEON, South Korea – The long journey of Gilas Pilipinas to the pinnacle of glory in Asia ended in the 5,000 seat Hwaseong Sports Center yesterday when the Philippines missed the last chance it had to earn a berth in the semifinals.

While praying for a victory by Korea over Qatar late last night, the Philippines, meanwhile, knew it had to win by at least 10 points to prevail in a three-way tie for second.

As expected Korea won over Qatar, 65-58, forcing a three-way tie among Kazakhstan, Qatar and the Philippines.

Kazakhstan, ironically the only squad that started its campaign from the first round as an unseeded team, won via the tiebreaker and advanced to the semis against Iran.

Korea is in the other half of the semis bracket and will face either China or Japan in Group 1 where a three-way tie for second is possible among China (1-2), Japan (1-1) and Mongolia (0-2).

This means the best finish by Gilas Pilipinas in the Games is fifth but that will depend on its standing after the completion of all quarterfinal games last night.

With barely six days left in the games, only bets in athletics, boxing, taekwondo, soft tennis, rugby, softball, bowling, BMX cycling, equestrian, karatedo and wrestling are left to keep the fight for Team Philippines.

Marestella Torres could be the country’s best bet for a gold when she vies in the women’s long jump on the second day of track and field competitions today.

Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association president Philip Ella Juico said he is confident Torres’ previous jump of 6.71 meters she set in a gold medal win in the 2013 SEA Games in Palembang, Indonesia would be good for a medal.

Boxing lost its two lady bets and will now pin its gold medal hopes on four male boxers left from the original nine-member team.

Cyclist Ronald Oranza held his own in his first Asiad and finished a strong 12th in the men’s road race.

But even the big guns of this event failed to make it to the podium as they guarded each other for naught, allowing their seconds to win in their countries’ behalf, instead.

Oranza was pulled back by a Malaysian and watched the breakaway of eventual gold medalist Jang Kyungu of South Korea and silver medalist Arvin Moazami Godarzi of Iran. They sprinted to the finish but Jang got the better end, surprising the Iranian in the final 200 meters to win in four hours, seven minutes and 52 seconds.

Hong Kong’s Leung Chun Wing was in front of an eight-man third group to salvage bronze 49 seconds after Jang and Godarzi crossed.

Mark John Galedo was stuck with the big guns that included two Pro Tour riders from Japan and one from Iran and crossed with nine others 10 minutes later.

Golfers Princess Superal and Mia Legaspi also tried hard but failed to mount a final round rally, surrendering the medals to Thailand and Korea, which split the two gold medals up for grabs in the women’s division.

Hermie Macaranas missed out on a semifinal slot in the men’s 1000m single sprint of canoe after winding up fourth in his group at the Hanami/Misari Canoe-Kayak Center.

The 19-year-old Macaranas, the country’s lone athlete in canoeing, clocked four minutes, 22.704 seconds for fourth place in his semifinals group behind India’s Gaurav Tomar (4:18.953), South Korea’s Kim Taeeun (4:20:838) and Shahriyor (4:22:683) of Tajikistan.

They will join three other finalists from Singapore, Kazakhstan and again from India in the gold-medal race on Monday.

Macaranas’s time yesterday was far better than the 4:34.09 he registered in Saturday’s heats. He vied in the 200 meters last Saturday but did not finish the race.

The equestrian team of Martin Diego Lorenzo, his brother Mateo Rafael, Joker Arroyo and Marie Antonette Leviste also failed to land a medal in the individual and team jump competitions.

In their own battle for pride in Southeast Asia, the Philippines’ SEA Games rivals appeared better prepared for the Asian Games than the Philippines which slid to 26th overall among 45 participants.

The Philippines had two silver medals from the wushu bets and one bronze medal each from wushu and archery.

Thailand climbed to 11th overall with 4-2-13 gold-silver-bronze medals, followed by Malaysia 13th with 3-7-8, Indonesia 14th with 2-3-7, Myanmar 16th with 2-1-0, Vietnam 17th with 1-7-30, amd Singapore 19th with 1-4-7.