Beleaguered RP team gains chess bronze

MACAU—Ranged against the Great Wall, the Philippine contingent consoled itself with a bronze medal, courtesy of the  women’s rapid chess team, in Day 3 of the Macau second Asian Indoor Games on Sunday.

Catherine Perena salvaged a draw with Harika Dronavalli of India in their second semifinal meeting to assure  the bronze, the first medal for the Philippines here after a scrambling start on Saturday.

The Games were China’s show as the delegation from the Mainland took an early harvest of seven gold, five silver and five bronze medals in the early standings, mainly on victories in skateboarding, fin swimming and dancesport.

But the Filipinos’ eyes were fixed on Thailand, which surprised the field by staying behind China with a 3-3-5 haul, with all its golds coming in cycling events unrelated to what will be played in the Southeast Asian Games the Thais are set to host in December.

Japan and India also had three gold medals each, while Macau and Hong Kong had two each. Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates had one each.

 Perena’s bronze, hardly earned from a field of 16 entries, quickly erased the stigma of a malicious report reportedly sent by some sports officials back home, maligning the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) for its alleged misuse of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) funds, which were disbursed primarily for use in the construction of a new office for the POC.

The OCA, through International and National Olympic Committee (NOC) relations manager Vinod Kumar Tiwari, however cleared the POC, saying they saw nothing wrong in the manner the POC had spent the OCA grant.

“It was a straightforward deal and we saw nothing wrong with it,” Tiwari said. “The assistance was part of our Olympasia program granting financial support to some NOCs, and the Philippines used it for what it was intended for.”

Former POC president Celso Dayrit also distanced himself from the controversy, saying he was not the source of accusations that tried to pin the new POC leadership under Jose “Peping” Cojuangco in the eyes of the OCA.

“I did not make the accusations, and I have no malice to do that,” Dayrit said.

“I was asked about the issue back home, and I only asked about the plan that was submitted before the OCA.”

“I submitted a plan to build a building for the POC during my term as president. It could have been changed and could have been approved by the OCA,” Dayrit added.

A minor controversy also erupted right in the opening ceremonies when the RP futsal team showed up in wrong uniform, prompting an investigation by the Philippine Sports Commission. The team may lose their accreditation to the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand in December if the PSC finds the squad’s action deliberate.

Perena, however, gave the Philippines enough reasons to move on, as she did after she was beaten by Dronavalli in their first semifinal game. Perena shared a bronze medal with Thi Thahn An Nguyen of Vietnam.

Nguyen failed to advance into the final against Dronavalli after absorbing a loss at the hands of eventual silver medalist Shadi Paridar of Iran that negated her earlier victory over the same opponent in their first match.

Dronavalli only needed to draw her match with Paridar to claim the gold medal.

Perena’s exploit also sparked the country’s bid in aerobics gymnastics as the Philippines sent its entries into four finals matches set later Sunday, although barely.

Christina Ferrer placed seventh in the women’s individual qualification round to earn a chance at shooting for the gold medal.

Dan Mar Luna, meanwhile, placed eighth and last in the men’s qualifying. But he promised to maintain focus as he got his chance to also shoot for the men’s individual gold.

Ferrer later teamed up with Alejandro Mendelebar in the mixed pair event, also placing seventh to make it to the final round.

Mendelebar then joined Lester John Go and Joe Ili Dico to make it to the men’s trio final event, placing eighth and last in the qualifying.

It was different in bowling, however, No Filipino got past the men’s singles bowling preliminaries with Chester King ending up at seventh place in the preliminary A behind eventual silver medalist Kim Hyun Suk of Korea, while compatriot Raoul Miranda was dead last in his group of 16 bowlers.

Nayef Eqab Alabadla of the United Arab Emirates defeated Kim for the gold medal late Saturday night.

It was the same story in dancesport as no Filipino pair was able to squirm through the semi-final heats in Five Latin Dances, Quickstep, Slow Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Tango and Waltz.

Tears fell also in finswimming as Paul Anthony Capule and Gerwin Domingo failed to make the final race in men’s surface 200-m; and Lyllian Grace Banzon and Keshia Emmaline Fule in women’s individual surface 200-m.