Wushu’s Divine Wally comes to the rescue
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter
DAY FOUR of the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia on Wednesday proved to be a tough one for the Philippines with the country tinkering with having a medal-less day for the first time in this edition of the Games.
In came wushu athlete Divine Wally, who managed to salvage a bronze in the -52kg sanda event late in the day to keep the Philippines’ medal streak going and pad the country’s haul to one gold and five bronze medals.
Twenty-three-year-old Wally, 5’0”, took on a taller and more aggressive Samiroumi Elaheh Mansoryan of Iran but lost, 1-2, in their semifinal match at the Jakarta International Expo to settle for the bronze.
The Benguet native Wally tried her best to get the better of her Iranian opponent but the latter was on top of her game, eluding the Filipina’s strikes while connecting on hers on her way to the win.
Despite the loss, the bronze medal finish was an improvement from Ms. Wally’s fifth-place showing in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
On her way to the bronze, Ms. Wally beat Petriwi Selviah of Indonesia, 2-0, and subdued Mimi Yoysaykham of Laos, 2-0.
Attempted to deliver a medal for the Philippines on Day Four but was unsuccessful was the bowling trio of Liza del Rosario, Lara Posadas, and Alexis Sy which finished seventh in the women’s trios.
The Filipina keglers pooled 4026, 300 pinfalls behind the sizzling Malaysian trio of Hamidi Afifah Badrul, Rahman Siti Abdul and Mei Lan Chea, which took the gold with combined tally of 4255.
Chinese-Taipei (4255) settled for silver while Singapore got bronze (4250).
The other Philippine team composed of Maria Lourdes Arles, Rachelle Leon, and Dyan Coronacion placed 10th with a combined output of 3923.
In archery, Amaya Paz-Cojuangco placed seventh in the compound women’s individual ranking round while male counterparts Joseph Benjamin Vicencio, Paul Marton Dela Cruz, and Earl Benjamin Yap ended at 11th, 15th and 40th in the compound team ranking.
Taekwondo jin Samuel Morrison got into the quarterfinals of the men’s -80kg before bowing out while Francis Agojo reached the round of 16 in the men’s -63kg.
Wushu’s Daniel Parantac and Jones Llabres ended at ninth and 15th place, respectively, in men’s taijijan while weightlifter Jeffrey Garcia finished fifth in Group B of the men’s 69kg and wrestler Jeffrey Manatad fell in the men’s Greco-Roman 77kg 1/8 finals.
LOOKING TO ADD
Looking to add to the medal haul of the Philippines on Thursday were gymnast Carlos Yulo who qualified for the finals of the men’s floor exercise competition and the Philippine women’s softball team which was angling for at least a bronze medal.
China scooped its 50th gold medal Thursday as it asserted its Asian Games dominance with multiple victories in wushu and rowing, where a Unified Korea team finished last.
All six wushu finals in a packed morning session in Jakarta included martial artists from China. Four claimed gold in the sport made famous by Jet Li and Jackie Chan, derived from an ancient Chinese warrior code.
On the rowing lake in co-host city Palembang, China were victorious in six of the eight morning medal races.
But the Olympic heavyweights were pipped by Uzbekistan in the men’s double sculls, while Vietnam took its first Games gold in the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls.
A joint rowing team consisting of athletes from North and South Korea came in last in the lightweight men’s four, finishing more than half-a-minute off the pace.
Unified Korea teams will have two more chances at rowing glory Friday.
Olympic swim champion Joseph Schooling battled through fatigue to top the heats for the 50 metres butterfly.
The Singaporean, who defended his 100m butterfly title on Wednesday evening, said he managed less than five hours’ sleep.
“It was rough,” he said. “But it’s normal to feel tired. It just means you’ve got to grind through it. You’ve got to be a man, step it up and not complain.”
China’s half-century of golds came just before noon on day five with Quan Xin’s victory in the men’s kayak final.
Japan is currently second in the medal standings with 20 golds, ahead of South Korea on 11.
About 17,000 athletes and officials are taking part in the two-week, 40-sport Games — the biggest sports event in Indonesia’s history. — with reports from AFP
