ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan – The Philippines settled for two silver medals this time as fancied weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz and Fil-American Eric Shaun Cray were beaten by their determined rivals in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) yesterday at the Ashgabat Olympic Complex here.
The country’s savior in the Rio Olympics last year after winning a silver medal, Diaz finished second behind Chinese Liao Qiuyun.
The up and coming Chinese lifter tallied 204 points to beat the country’s Olympic heroine by four points.
Filipino-American Eric Shaun Cray matched the silver medal finish of Diaz during the afternoon event inside the Weightlifting Arena when he finished second in the 60m run at the Indoor Athletics Arena.
Cray, the 28-year-old reigning Asian Athletics titlist in 400m, clocked only 6.63 seconds as compared to the 6.55 by Iranian Hassan Taftian.
Long jumper Janry Ubas wound up fourth (7.40m) behind champion Nguyen Tien Trong of Vietnam (7.48m), India’s Amila Wijayalath Pedige (7.45m) and Chan Ming Tai of Hong Kong (7.44m).
In taekwondo, Kristie Elaine Alora and Kristopher Robert Uy settled with bronze medals after losing in the semifinals also Tuesday, Alora to Uzbek’s Svetlana Osipova (16-8) and Uy to China’s Liu Jintao (27-10).
