By REY C. LACHICA
HANGZHOU, China – Skateboarding sensation Margielyn Didal fell from from her throne but wushu sanda warrior Arnel Mandal assured Team Philippines its first silver medal with a dominant win in the 19th Asian Games on Wednesday, Sept. 27, here.
The pride of Iloilo City, Manda, 28, was simply too classy, beating Avazbek Amanbekoa of Kyrgyztan, 2-0, in the men’s 56kg class at the XSG Sports Centre to advance to the gold medal bout against a Chinese opponent on Thursday, Sept. 28.
“Bukas do or die na ito,” said Mandal, who followed his coach’s advise to the fullest for the win.”
Didal’s fall from grace was undestandable, though.
Her movements limited after undegoing operation to a repair a left ankle injury, Didal was a DNF (din not finish) in the women’s street event that was again ruled by Chinese bets who completed another remarkable 1-2 finish.
The day also saw tennis princess Alex Eala embellish her status as one of Asia’s best by beating a tough Japanese rival in one of the worthiest wins in tennis to assure herself a bronze medal.
Showing steely resolve, Eala recovered mightily from a sluggish start to complete a 0-6, 7-5, 6-0 stunner over Kyoka Okamura in a win that will end the country’s 17-year medal drought in the sport.
Gideon Fred Padua and Clemente Tabugara, Jr. settled for bronze medals with the former pulling out from his semis bout against Shoja Panahigelehkolalei in the men’s 60kg due to injury.
Tabugara, on the other hand, suffered a 2-0 defeat to Indonesian Samuel Marbun in the men’s 65kg.
The win pushed the 18-year-old Eala into the semis against US Open quaterfinalist and top seed Zheng Qinwen of China.
Counting earlier wins of taekwondo jin King Patrick Perez (poomsae) and wushu bet Jones Llabres Inso, Team PH now have five bronze medals – including that of Eala.
The day’s other good news came later in the day when Gilas Women made a rousing debut with an 83-59 rout of Kazakhstan at the Shaoxing gym.
“In sports, minsan panalo ka, minsan talo rin,” said Didal, still smiling despite the painful end to her reign.
She was even cheered while waving to her Chinese fans.
But her path to the Paris Games appeared secured being in the Top 40 in the world rankings – only the best 44 skaters will qualify to the global spectacle next year.
Eala, seeded No. 4, looked like a beginner in the first set as she committed numerous turnovers – some were basic mistakes – not to mention Okamora’s solid game from the baseline.
She even lost her first serve in the second, giving Okamura a 2-0 lead.
Good thing, Eala found her second win and rallied furiously to win the second set which proved enough to take the fight out of her Japanese rival.
The third set was a different story anymore as it was Eala who dictated the tempo on the way to posting another win that could go down as one of the highlights of a flourishing career.
Eala’s victory made Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Richard Bachmann as one of her instant fans.
“Grabe ang come-from-behind na panalo ni Eala,” said Bachmann, who was heading into the venue when informed that Eala lost the first set terribly.
Lucky for Bachmann, he witnessed Eala’s third set domination.
The last time a country won a medal in the continental showpiece was 17 years ago – courtesy of Cecil Mamiit and Eric Taino who clinched two bronze medals in the Doha edition.
Several hours after, Eala returned to the court and teammed up with Francis Alcantara to beat their fancied Indian rivals Ankita Raina and Yuki Bhambri, 6-4, 4-6, 10-8
While wushu delivered, taekwondo bets faltered as Arven Alcantara, Dave Cea and Laile Delo lost to their respective rivals.
Same thing for judo bets after the team bowed to Thailand in the Round of 16 of the mixed team event.
Led by Olympian Kiyomi Watanabe, the judokas will go home empy-handed this time in the event taking place in the ultra-modern city adorned by buildings of different sizes and colors.
Boxer Marvin John Nobel launched his gold medal bid in style, scoring an RSC (referee stopped contest) win over Nepalese Rabin Nepal in the second round.
Mark Ashley Fajardo, who on Sunday scored a sensational knockout win, however, was unfortunate this time after losing to Chinese Wang Xiang.
In swimming, Xiandi Chua emerged as the lone finalist after emerging as the 7th best qualifier in the women’s 400m individual medley.
The rest, including Fil-Canadian Kayla Sanchez, were torpedoed by their superior rivals.
Meantime, the Sibol team of Robert de Guzman produced contrasting results in Esports – first beating the Sardor Azimov-led Uzbekistan, 1-0, before bowing, 0-1, to the Meirlan Yanmakhanov-powered Kazakhstan, to place second in Group B.
The top two squads in each group will advance the quarterfinals, which now has Kazakhstan, China and Thailand as the early qualifiers.
In golf, Lois Kaye Go and Rianne Malixi will try to defend the country’s title sans Fil-Japanese Yako Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan.
The team had earlier suffered a setback when the organizing committee denied PH’s request to include Chanelle Avaricio in place of Princess Superal.
But Malixi and Go remain positive of their chances although they will be against a bevy of top-notch players from the host region, including Yin Ruoning, who held the world’s top ranking for two consecutive weeks (September 11 to 24) before yielding it to American Lilia Vu this week.
Also tipped to figure well in the exciting medal race are the Koreans, Taiwanese, Japanese and Thais.
