Tale of two heartbreak losses

DOHA — Near-misses in billiards and taekwondo extended the Philippines’ gold medal drought to nine days in the Asian Games here as cue master Antonio Gabica blew his quest for glory and jin Tshomlee Go succumbed to a more classy fighter in a pair of heartbreakers late Saturday night.

But while Go lost to a tougher opponent in his bid for the bantamweight gold, Gabica failed to seize the moment as rare as rains in this desert city as he squandered a 7-5 lead against Satoshi Kawabata and dropped the next three racks on miscalculations and poor preparations, enabling the Japanese to snatch the gold medal in the 8-ball singles.

"I really made a mistake. I forgot about the roll of the ball and I should have hit it harder and with more speed," said Gabica, referring to his feeble corner pocket shot on the 8-ball on the 13th rack which had he made would’ve given him an 8-5 cushion and a rack away from victory.

That ball actually headed for the pocket but it rattled off the rim, giving Kawabata the chance to cut the Filipino’s lead.

He didn’t only close in on Gabica, the 8-ball doubles champion in the 2003 SEA Games in Vietnam, but the Japanese world No. 42 shut the door on the Filipino by taking the next three tracks, the match and the gold medal.

"At that time, I felt so tired and I had a mental block," rued Gabica, who earlier bundled out top seed Huang Kun Chang of Taiwan, 9-7, in a three-hour duel in the semis. "While the play was going on, I felt even more tired and dizzy and I kept on thinking about my mistake."

That miscue would haunt him for long for sure but Gabica will have to make do with the silver medal and hope again for the best in the 9-ball men’s singles.

To make things worse, Leonardo Andam, earlier tipped to make it to the final with Gabica, lost the battle for the bronze as he bowed to Huang, 5-9.

Unlike Gabica, who was favored to win the 8-ball gold, Go stepped into the mat a clear underdog with the reigning SEA Games bantamweight champion needing to work his way up to the finals with hard-earned victories from the prelims up to the semis.

He fashioned out four victories in scary fashion, outpointing Yemeni Badralden Al Muradi in the last two rounds to eke out a 2-0 win in the elims, nipped Aman Abykenov of Kyrgyzstan, 2-1, to reach the quarterfinal round, then bucked two deductions in his match with Saudi Turki Al Rashed and scrambled for a 3-1 decision.

He outwitted Taiwan’s Su Tai Yuan, 2-1, to reach the final of the 62kg division.

But waiting for him was a wily Kim Ju Young, one of Korea’s young Turks, who came into the final with four wins fashioned out in routs. He demolished Pakistani Kashif Khan, 5-0, in the first round, ripped Thai Nacha Punthong, 7-3, whipped Bahraini Khalid Ali Al Rifai, 9-2, in this quarter then blasted Viet Anh Tuan Vu, 7-0, in the semis.

The 20-year-old Kim actually sized up the Filipino jin and probe his moves in the first round, parring Go’s attack with remarkable resolve. He then pressed his charge in the next round, chalked up two points then cleverly ran around Go to post a 4-1 victory.

"In the first round, I had a point which was not scored," said Go. "I knew it was close and that’s why I was aggressive. But in second, he got ahead of me in points and that’s why he just ran around and protected his lead."

But Go, a bronze medalist in the Busan Asiad in 2002 and in the Asian Championships in 2004, said he was satisfied with his performance, a silver medal effort that hiked RP taekwondo’s haul to two silvers and two bronzes. Marie Antoinette Rivero accounted for the other silver while Eunice Alora and Veronica Domingo had a bronze each.

"I’m happy with a silver though I could have had the gold," Go said. "I prepared hard for this match and the gold medal was my aim."