MANILA, Philippines, September 28 ------ A silver or gold is on the way for Team Philippines in the Asian Games courtesy of wushu standout Arnel Mandal, while two of his teammates bagged bronzes in Hangzhou, China. Guaranteed of a silver, Mandal will fight for the gold after beating Kyrgyzstan’s Avazbek Amanbekov, 2-0, in the men’s sanda 56kg semifinal at the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre.
Mandal – a gold medalist in the 2015 World Wushu Championship – will face home bet Jiang Haidong in the finale on Thursday. Gideon Fred Padua and Clemente Tabugara Jr, meanwhile, raised the Philippines’ medal tally to four bronzes even as they dropped their respective semifinal matches.
Coming off a quarterfinal win over Turkmenistan’s Agajumageldi Yazymov a day prior, Padua forfeited his men’s sanda 60kg bout against Iran’s Shoja Panahigelehkolaei due to an injury. Tabugara saw action but failed to join Mandal in the finals as he bowed to Indonesia’s Samuel Marbun, 2-0, in the men’s sanda 65kg division. Wushu has delivered three of the Philippines’ four medals, with the other bronze coming from Jones Inso (men’s taolu taijiquan-taijijian).
Source: rappler.com
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