Aussie shatters Go’s Olympic dream

BEIJING – Tshomlee Go was hardly a shadow of the warrior his Korean coach believed he was and it took an unheralded wild card entry from Australia to boot him out of the first round and out of the gold medal match yesterday in the Olympic taekwondo competitions.

Two clear hits to the body in the second round were all Australian Ryan Carneli unleashed to keep control of the match for a 1-0 win despite being deducted a penalty point in the third and last round of their flyweight (-58Kg) encounter at the Beijing University of Science and Technology.

Philippine media affairs coordinator Joey Romasanta said Go wept and wept for over 20 minutes despite words of consolation from Korean coach Kim Hong Sik at the dressing room moments after they left the playing hall.

So dejected was the Filipino fighter he didn’t appear at the mixed zone where athletes and journalists gather for post-game interview. Kim, who was about to enter the zone, stepped back when he saw Manila reporters and a TV crew.

He also begged off from a STAR interview as he slipped out of the athletes’ dressing room and went to the parking lot.

Go unleashed two kicks, the only attempts he made in the first round. One was parried by the Australian while the other was to the side and did not count.

Both traded kicks early in the second round but neither found its mark even as Go was egged on by shouts of “Pilipinas, Pilipinas” from Filipino spectators led by Philippine Sports Commission chairman William “Butch” Ramirez, Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, chef de mission Monico Puentevella and taekwondo president Robert Aventajado.

The 20-year-old Australian, who did not make it past the first round in the 2007 World Championships in Beijing,  saw an opening for a 45-degree kick to the body, then countered Go’s kick with a defensive kick to the body to go up, 2-0, seconds before the round ended.

Realizing he was two minutes short of losing the match, Go went for broke in the third. He made a perfect ax kick to the head, which could have scored two points and leveled the count. But the judges saw otherwise.

Still, Go had the chance to level the count when the referee slapped Carneli with a one-point deduction after a second warning for backing away in the third round. That reduced the lead to 1-0, but Go failed to deliver a single blow and the 5-7 Australian, who came here on the strength of his silver medal finish as a bantamweight in the 2006 World Cup in Bangkok, twice clinched  to prevent an attack and preserved the lead as time ran out on the Filipino.