Wong, Tabugara win silvers in World Combat Games

MANILA, October 23 ------ Wushu’s Agatha Wong and Clemente Tabugara Jr. won silver medals for the Philippines in the 2023 World Combat Games at the King Saud University Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Wong, a five-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, garnered 19.486 points to finish with the silver medal during the Women's Taolu Taijiquan and Taijijian final. Wong scored 9.743 in the taijiquan and 9.743 in the taijijian.

She finished behind Hu Shuting of China, who compiled 19.533 points from the two events. South Korea's Choi Yujeong completed the podium with 19.470 points. It was a rebound for Wong, who ended up at seventh in the same event during the recent 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Meanwhile, Tabugara nabbed silver after losing to Egypt's Elsayed Mohsen in the men's 65 kilogram finals. Moshen had it 2-0 against the Filipino who beat Abdussamat Ashirov in the semifinals, 2-1. Jones Llabres Inso, for his part, nabbed bronze in the men's Taolu Taijiquan and Taijijian, with a combined score of 19.339.

South Korea's An Hyeongi (19.493) and Singapore's Tay Yu Xuan (19.453) grabbed the gold and silver, respectively. Inso had also won bronze in the 19th Asian Games for the same event. In men's Taol Nanquan and Nangun, Thornton Sayan also reached the podium, with his score of 19.410 good for bronze. Liu Chang Min of Chinese Taipei (19.499) and Huang Junhua of Macau (19.473) took gold and silver.

Aside from the wushu athletes, also competing in Saudi Arabia is Asian Games bronze medalist Jenna Kaila Napolis (ju-jitsu) and Southeast Asian Games gold medalists Gretel De Paz (kickboxing), silver medalist Renalyn Dacquel (kickboxing) and bronze medalists Philip Delarmino (muay thai) and Darius Venerable (taekwondo). A total of 1,657 athletes (913 male and 744 female) from 80 countries will compete in 16 combat sports, namely aikido, boxing, fencing, judo, ju-jitsu, karate, kendo, arm wrestling, kickboxing, Muaythai, sambo, savate (French boxing), sumo, taekwondo, wrestling and wushu.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com