Hopes high for two RP bets in YOG

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines drew strong medal chances in two of the five events it is set to compete in the Youth Olympic Games firing off Saturday in Singapore with taekwondo jin Kirk Barbosa needing only a win to advance to the bronze medal round.

With only eight participants entered in the -48kg category of boys’ taekwondo, the 15-year-old Barbosa hopes to buck the odds and hurdle his rival in Sunday’s opener of taekwondo events to get into the medal round.

Although the quarters pairings have not yet been posted at the event’s website at presstime, the cast teems with tall talents, headed by 5-10 Lucas Guzman of Argentina and 5-9 Semih Gokmen of Germany.

Barbosa, a three-time national champion from La Salle Greenhills, is listed at 5 feet and the smallest jin in the fold followed by Iran’s Mohammad Soeimani Delgram at 5-1.

Gili Haimovitz of Israel, Gerory English of the US and Uzbek Abubakir Rasulov all stand at 5-7 while Vittori Rega of Italy is listed at 5-6.

Barbosa, according to RP chef de mission Mark Joseph, is ranked No. 10 in the world.

The Team RP official also said that swimmer Jessie Lacuna has been ranked No. 7 in the world, further raising the country’s medal chances in the inaugural event for athletes 14-18 years old.

Lacuna’s clocking achieved in the March qualifying event that earned him an Olympic A standard is already good for USA scholarship.

“It is an eye opener to realize that in some sports, like swimming, swimmers from countries like the US, are not ranked higher than Lacuna or simply did not qualify (for these games),” said Joseph.

The top seeds in swimming are China and Hungary.

Lacuna opens his campaign in the 200m free on Monday.

Meanwhile, the three-on-three team of Jerome Teng, Michael Pate, Michael Tolomia and Bobby Ray Parks opens its bid against Ivory Coast on Monday at the Youth Space court 1.

The RP dribblers hope to neutralize their rivals’ advantage in ceiling with Ivory Coast fielding in two 6-5 players in the tournament.

The other bets in the lean nine-athlete RP contingent are lone tennis bet Jeson Patrombon, swimmer Jasmin Alkhaldi and weightlifter Patricia Llena, also the flagbearer of Team RP.