Some relief with a silver

Eala provides push with bronze

HANGZHOU – Grizzled wushu artist Arnel Mandal bowed to China’s Haidong Jiang in the men’s final of the 56kg sanda Thursday but had the great privilege of giving Team Philippines its first silver medal in the 19th Asian Games here.

It was enough reason to cheer for the Filipinos on a day Alex Eala’s strong campaign in the women’s individual tennis came to a screeching halt when she lost to Zheng Qinweng, another Chinese bet, in the semis.

Eala, who looked so good in her first three matches, gave the world No. 23 and quarterfinalist in this year’s US Open a big scare, especially in the marathon second set, which the left-handed Filipina won in an hour and seven minutes.

Zheng took the opening set, lost three match points in the second and was dragged into a deciding third. There, Eala slowly faded after a steady start and eventually took a 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6 defeat to settle for the bronze.

For a while, Eala, with a world ranking of 190, looked headed to a stunning upset of the tournament’s top seed. But she must have spent so much of her energy in the second set where she proved that she could handle a player of such caliber.

Zheng won the match with a forehand then faced the cheering home crowd with her arms spread in the air at the world class Hangzhou Olympic Sports Tennis Centre.

Later in the day, the 18-year-old Eala returned to court for the mixed doubles quarterfinals. She teamed up with Francis Casey Alcantara in a 6-4, 6-4 win over Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum and Maximus Parapol Jones for a spot in the semis and a guaranteed bronze.

Silver lining

Back to wushu, the 27-year-old Mandal, from Iloilo, vowed to do everything he could in the battle for the gold. But he met a more superior athlete from China, the birthplace of the sport, and took a 2-0 defeat.

The crowd was into the match, cheering wildly for Zheng. He proved elusive and wily, clipping Mandal’s arms and pushing the Filipino down on the floor a couple of times. Even these moves drew cheers from the crowd.

But Mandal, winner of the gold in the 2015 World Championships and 2019 Southeast Asian Games, was gracious in defeat.

“Kahit papano, hindi na masama na nakapag-uwi tayo ng silver medal. Ginawa ko naman lahat sa final pero hindi tayo pinalad. So, sa mga umasa, sorry. Better luck next time na lang,” said the silver medalist.

Manda left the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre smiling and feeling like a millionaire. For his feat, he will receive P1 million from the Philippine Sports Commission. Each gold here is worth P2 million and each bronze P400,000.

At the end of the day, Team Philippines had a silver and five bronze medals. China is way, way on top of the medal standings with 84 golds, 49 silvers and 25 bronzes. This early, the battle for the top spot seemed over. South Korea is far second (21-20-38) and Japan a farther third (18-29-26).

Golfers hold ground

In golf, Rianne Malixi signed for a bogey-free 68 at the West Lake International course and was in a share of seventh place heading to the second round. Japanese amateur Saki Baba showed the way with a superb 65 while China’s Ruoning Yin, the world No. 2, led four others in second place with a 67.

Lois Kaye Go, part of the Philippine team that won the team gold in the 2018 Asiad, finished with a 72 for joint 21st. Yuka Saso, who won the individual gold for the Philippines five years ago, is now carrying the Japanese flag but is not competing here.

Malixi and Go are all by themselves in the three-to-play, two-to-count team event after the late withdrawal of Princess Superal due to another commitment. The Philippines’ request to field an additional player was turned down.

Malixi and Go stood in seventh place at 140 in the team event led by China, Japan and Thailand at 134, 134 and 136.

In men’s golf, red-hot Clyde Mondilla carded a seven-under 65 and shared ninth place and four strokes behind South Korean Jubin Jang who tamed the course with a spectacular round of 61.

Carl Corpus and Aidric Chan matched par 71s for joint 38th.

The Philippine Sibol team didn’t click the right buttons and took the early exit in the Dream Three Kingdoms 2 quarterfinals of the Esports competition in the Hangzhou Asian Games Thursday.

John To, now at the forefront of the Philippine campaign in the fast-growing world of Esports, failed to carry his teammates past Hong Kong as they fell, 2-0. Hong Kong and Thailand made it straight to the semis.

On Friday, the Filipinos will test their skills in the Dota 2 action.

Charlie Manzano wound up seventh in the final of women’s vault Thursday to cap the Philippines’ gallant campaign in artistic gymnastics.

The 17-year-old Manzano posted 12.366 in the afternoon final and performed better than Tokyo Olympian Pratani Nayak of India, who came in eighth and last with a score of 12.350

An Changok and Kim Sonhyang of the People’s Republic of Korea won the gold and silver with 14.049 and 13.600, respectively, at the Huanglong Sports Centre Gymnasium. The bronze went to Linmin Yu of China with 13.533.

In chess, the Philippines bowed to China and Uzbekistan in the men’s and women’s rapid chess, respectively. Woman GM Janelle Frayna and IM Marie Antoinette San Diego shared ninth place while IM Paulo Bersamina was in the same spot in their divisions.