Filipino boxers, jins stand tall in Asian Games Day 11
A pair of bronze medals from taekwondo, along with the expected strong showing from the men's boxing, on Tuesday somehow pumped life into the Team Philippines' sagging campaign in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
Samuel Thomas Morrison finally found his match in the mold of Iranian Masoud Hajizarvareh and absorbed a 1-5 setback in their semifinals clash in the -72kg category of men's taekwondo, enough to give the Philippines its third bronze medal earlier.
Then, Morrison's teammate, Rona Ilao Levita accounted for another bronze following a 1-5 loss dealt by Chinese bet Li Zhaoyi in the women's -49kg event.
That haul in Day 11 propped up the Philippines' medal tally to two silvers and four bronze medals, but still far behind its Asean counterparts, led by regional powerhouse countries Thailand and Malaysia.
Hopes, however, are still high on the men's boxing, which now has a total of four bets advancing to the medal round, all assured of at least a bronze.
Mario Fernandez proved too much for India's Shiva Thapa 3-0 in the bantamweight division while London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga defeated Uzbekistan's Hasemboy Dusmatov 3-0 in the lightflyweight category.
Not to be outdone was middleweight Wilfredo Lopez who scored a technical knockout win over Mongolian Shinebayar Narmandakh.
The three Pinoy pugs joined compatriot, lightweight Charly Suarez, as the country's brightest chances in nailing that elusive gold medal.
Also keeping their bid alive of landing a medal were the Blu Girls, who trounced Thailand with ease 13-0 and secured the fourth seed in the semifinals of softball.
"We beat them (the Thais) as expected but we are more focused on the semifinals," shared Blu Girls head coach Randy Dizer.
The Volcanoes, however, struggled against stronger opposition in men's rugby, dropping a 14-19 loss to China and absorbing a 0-40 shutout against heavy favorite Hong Kong.
In order to keep their medal hopes alive, the PH Volcanoes need to win by a point difference of 40 to 50 points against Pakistan.
The country is also pinning its hopes on BMX cycling and karatedo which gets going in the next two days.
