MANILA, Philippines, September 29 ------ After a muted start to the 19th Asian Games, the Philippines finally broke through in the silver medal tally after Arnel Mandal bowed to Chinese home bet Haidong Jiang in the men’s 56kg wushu finals at the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre.
Jiang stormed his way through the two-round final to win by point difference (WPD), as Mandal nonetheless settled for an honorable consolation for his country. Mandal’s medal win marks the fourth time in the Hangzhou Asian Games that a wushu bet brought home hard-earned hardware for the Philippines. Taekwondo jin Patrick King Perez is the lone exception after winning bronze – the country’s first medal – in men’s individual poomsae.
All other medals came from Gideon Fred Padua in men’s 60kg wushu, Clemente Tabugara in men’s 65kg, and Jones Llabres Inso in men’s taijiquan and taijijian all-around. Only Mandal was able to break through the bronze barrier after downing Avazbek Amanbekov of Kyrgyzstan in the men’s 56kg semifinal to give the Philippines a rare shot for the gold.
Padua, meanwhile, elected to retire ahead of his semifinal match to prioritize his health and not risk aggravating an existing injury. As the wushu tournament ends on Thursday, a handful of other Filipino athletes are still on deck to give their country more chances at the elusive golden prize
Source: rappler.com
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