Boxers fuel drive for gold, ‘wounded’ Pinoy jins settle for two bronzes

INCHEON, South Korea – Two gallant Filipino jins were stopped in their tracks in bloody fights yesterday at the start of the taekwondo competitions of the 17th Asian Games.

Thomas Morrison was winning impressively in the initial rounds against Iran’s Masoud Hajizavareh of Iran and looked headed to win the country’s first gold when an errant shot at the neck broke his collarbone and ended his bid in the semifinal round.

Fellow taekwondo jin Levita Rose Ilao had lighter assignments whom she disposed of in clinical fashion until she found a match in the semifinal round in Thai Sonkham Chanatip who went on to win the gold in the –49kg class.

Bronze was the only medal the jins could contribute to the losing cause of Team Pilipinas which ended the day with its fourth bronze against two silver medals from wushu in the last four days of the 16-day quadrennial games.

In boxing, Mario Fernandez and Mark Anthony Barriga pounded out victories in varying fashions to join Charly Suarez in the semifinal round for three more sure bronze medals.

Fernandez overwhelmed India’s Thapa Shive in their bantamweight clash while Barriga snatched a tough 2-1 decision over Uzbek Dusmatov Hasanboy in their lightfly duel.

By late afternoon, China was way up with 120-76-58, winning practically every event, its total gold output bigger than the combined haul of second-placed Korea (50-53-59), Japan (37-50-54), Kazakhstan (15-16-24), Iran (12-11-10) and North Korea (8-10-11).

At ninth place, Thailand already had seven gold medals against seven silver and four bronze medals. Malaysia was 14th (3-12-10), Indonesia 15th (3-5-8), Singapore 17th (2-4-9), Myanmar 18th (2-1-0), Vietnam 20th (1-19-22) and the Philippines 26th (0-2-4).

On the penultimate day of bowling competitions, the Filipinas placed above the top 20 of the Women’s all events won by Korea’s Lee Nayoung (5132), Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane (5095) and Singapore’s Tan Jazreel (5013).

Alexis Marie Sy was 25th (4674), Liza Clutario 31st (4644), Liza del Rosario 34th (4620) and Marian Posadas 38th (4592).

Korea’s Park Jongwoo won the men’s all events (4867 pinfalls), while Larpapaharat Yannaphon of Thailand was second (4821) and Zulkifli Zulmazran of Malaysia third (4802).

Biboy Rivera was a far 35th (4545), Federick Ong 36th (4534), Kenneth Chua 38th (4528), Enrico Hernandez 41st (4491), Jo Mar Roland Jumapao 54th (4351) and Benshir Layoso  59th (4312).

The Volcanoes were bidding for a confidence-boosting win over China in its medal campaign in rugby but could not match the fire and fury of the Chinese who took only a four-point win (19-14) at the start of rugby competitions.

The Volcanoes, composed mainly of sons of expats from Australia and England, got mangled by powerhouse Hong Kong, 0-30, and now need to win by 40-50 points against Pakistan today to keep their medal hopes alive.