Eddiva leads 5 Phl wushu bets to world quarterfinals

MANILA, Philippines - Six Filipino sanda fighters, led by veteran Mark Eddiva, toppled their respective rivals to advance to the quarterfinal round of the 11th Wushu World Championships and move within a win from securing at least bronze medals in Ankara, Turkey Tuesday.

Eddiva, along with Francisco Solis and Benjie Rivera gun for the sure bronze Wednesday afternoon while Marianne Mariano and Jessie Aligaga also shoot for quarterfinal slots in the morning session.

Already in the quarters are Mary Jane Estimar, Dembert Arcita and Rhea Mae Rifani, whose victories more than made up for Edward Folayang’s setback.

“This is very exciting although we expect the matches to be a whole tougher in the next two days. We need the prayers of our countrymen more than ever,” said wushu federation secretary general Julian Camacho and team manager Jimmy Ong.

Organizers have decided to increase the number of medals by breaking up erstwhile composite events that brought the total number of gold medals to be won to 40, being disputed by more than 600 athletes from 78 countries in the event considered as the Olympics of wushu.

Rivera set the tone for the Philippines’ charge with a victory over Tunisia’s Sliti Zied in the round of 16 (56 kgs), a win matched by Eddiva in outclassing Algeria’s Labi Amine (65 kgs).

Solis, only four months into the sport, fought back to upend Turkmenistan’s Ilyas Nuryyev in the 60 kgs class while Rifani turned back a scrappy rival from Hong Kong.

Solis was actually decked by a solid roundhouse kick that also made his nose bleed as in his debut where he scored a come-from-behind triumph.

The tournament doctor cleared Solis and when the encounter resumed, the former pro boxer was all over his opponent for the kill.

Folayang, however, bowed to 2010 Wushu World Cup champion Sajjad Abbasiamir of Iran, arguably the most well rounded fighter of the weight category.

In the complete opposite, the Filipino taolu team continued to fare poorly, this time in men’s nanquan as Thornton Sayan and Denver Parantac were nowhere to be found in the top 25 of medal round play.

Tai chi expert, 20-year-old Daniel Parantac was also scheduled to compete late Tuesday evening.

Taolu will take a rest Wednesday but there will be three sessions of sanda owing to the long list of matches yet to be completed in nine weight categories of both men and women divisions.