China, Korea, Japan set pace: Pinoys suffer losses in opening salvo

GUANGZHOU, Guangdong, China – Filipino bets take early exits in many battlefronts in what could be a portent of things to come as China, Japan and Korea gobbled up almost everything in sight at the start of the XVI Asian Games yesterday.

The men’s team faced the specter of elimination in soft tennis where Japan and China from Group A and Chinese Taipei and Korea from Group B have virtually locked their place in the semifinal round.

The Philippine team composed of Giovanni Mamawal, Mikoff Manduriao, Sanuel Noguit and brothers Jhomar and Joseph Arcilla, downed India, 3-0, and Nepal, 3-0, but lost to Korea, 0-3. With a precarious 2-1 win-loss card for third place in Group B, it must win over frontrunning Chinese Taipei (3-0) to force a three-way tie for first in the group.

The women’s team bowed out following straight losses to Japan, Chinese Taipei and Korea.

 In their match against Japan, the doubles pair of Deena Rose Cruz and Cheryl Macasera yielded to Sugimoto Hitomi and Morihara Kana, 4-0, 0-4, 2-4, 4-6, 0-4, 3-5. Noelle Zoleta bowed to Eri Uehara, 2-4, 4-2, 1-4, 2-4, 2-4, and the Filipina pair of top soft tennis player Josephine Paguyo and Divina Gracia Escala fell to Sasaki Mai and Oba Ayaka, 0-4, 2-4, 0-4, 2-4, 0-4.

Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Chu Ling and Chu Yun Hsuan topped Macasera and Cruz, 4-2, 4-1, 5-3, 4-1, 4-0, Chiang Wang Chi crushed Zoleta, 4-0, 4-2, 4-1, 4-1, and Hang Chia Ling and Chang Wen Hsin blasted Paguyo and Escala, 4-1. The Phl team of Paguyo and Escala gave the doubles pair of Ri Nam Hui and Jon Myong Suk before going down, 9-7, 7-5, 2-4, 1-4, 4-1, 4-1,5-3.

Jo Yong Sim also struggled past Zoleta, 2-4, 4-2, 4-2, 0-4, 5-3, 4-2, while Sim Un Jong and Han YongMi also needed seven sets to subdue Macasera and Cruz, 5-3, 0-4, 4-1, 6-4, 3-5, 4-2, 4-2.

Tac Padilla of the Philippines shooting team works out at the Oati range in Tianhe district in Guangzhou. Joey Mendoza

Chinese Taipei and Japan advanced to the semifinal round with Korea and China.

In swimming, the United States-based swimmers were way behind established norms and dropped out after the heats.

Erica Totten finished ninth in the heats of the 200m freestyle, barely missing the finals with her time of 2:04.97.

Jasmine Alkhaldi finished seventh and last in the first heat and finished dead last at 15th overall, her time of 2 minutes, 7.6 seconds a huge 6.88 seconds behind the frontrunning time of Zhu Khu Qianwei of China (1:59.83).

Thailand’s Junhgrajang Natthanan went to the finals with a fourth-best time of 2:03.20, while Singpore also made the finals with a 2:04 clocking.

Alkhaldi also finished seventh in her heat and 13th overall in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:03.61, a good 5 seconds behind the 58.61 of Japan’s Kato Yuka.

Singapore’s Tao Li reached the finals with a time of 59.42 for fourth. Two Thais – Prommuenwai Natnapa and Kittiya Patarawadee – were in front of Alkhaldi at 11th and 12th overall.

Individual medley specialist Miguel Molina did not compete in the 400 IM, reserving his strength for today’s 200IM.

In judo, Olympic champion Yang Xiuli of China scored an ippon against Filipina Ruth Dugaduga 1 minute, 49 seconds into the first round to reach the semifinal round and relegate the Filipina bet to the repechage where she must win twice to bring home a bronze.

Young Fil-Japanese Kenji Yahat also fell to Iran’s Mahjoub Javad in the 100 kg quarterfinal bout. An ippon that came barely 1:05 of the first round threw him out the competition, leaving only Dugaduga and the ageless John Baylon in the hunt for judo’s medal win.

In the 100kg division, Kazakhstan’s Shynkeyev Yerzhan scored a yuka and completed his domination of Fil-Japanese Tomohiko Hoshina with an ippon in 2:23. The loss relegated the 23-year-old physical therapy graduate to the repechage where he also needs two wins to gain a bronze medal.

Baylon, 45, fresh from a three-month training in Japan, is set to meet tough Kim JB of Korea this morning in the first round of the -81kg division. A win sends him to the quarterfinal round early in the afternoon. The final block will be completed late in the day.

In men’s 10m air rifle preliminaries, Jason Baylon fired 585 points for 24th place and is out of the medal round where Zhu Qinan of China (598), Njagang Gagan of India (597) and Kim Kiowon of Korea (596) are the top contenders.

At the Guiangzhou velodrome, Apryl Eppinger finished ninth among 10 entries in the women’s 500m time trials with a time of 37.324 seconds.

The gold-silver-bronze medal winners were Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong (33.945), Guo Shuang of China (34.152) and Hsiao Mei Yu of Taiwan (35.440).

The world-renowned cue artists also took a beating.

Reynaldo Grandea lost to Paprut Chaithansakun, 3-1, in the first round of the English billiards singles.

“We are from different countries, so we have quite different technical skills which is the reason this match is so difficult. He is a terrific player whom I appreciate very much,” said the Thai after the match.

“My opponent took advantage of three balls which were very close to each other, so he scored in quick succession. But his great performance did not disturb me, on the contrary, it made me more confident.”