Wushu artists assured of 2 bronzes

INCHEON, South Korea – World class wushu artists Francisco Solis and Jean Claude Saclag of Lakay Team of the Cordilleras overpowered their opponents in lopsided fashion and assured the Philippines of at least a bronze in the fading hours of Day 3 of the 17th Asian Games here last night.

Solis threw a solid punch and one powerful kick to the leg of Ting Hong Wong of Hong Kong to score a 2-0 win in the quarterfinal round of the -56 kg of the sanda (sparring) event of the wushu competitions at the Ganghwa Dolmens gymnasium.

The win came after a similar 2-0 conquest in the -56 kg class of Saclag over Indonesian Hendrik Tarigan who came off the ring with a bloodied nose.

The victories sent both Filipinos to the semifinals where another win will put them on the gold medal round.

Solis, bronze medalist in the 2013 World Championships, goes for the semifinals against Chinese Zhao Fuxiang who disposed of Kyaw Kyaw of Myanmar (2-0).

Saclag, also the world No. 3 in his division, will face India’s Narender Grewal, who topped Abdullah of Pakistan, 2-0.

The twin efforts, which made up for the defeats of Divine Wally in the women’s -52 kg and CJ Tabugara in -65kg in the round of 16, were a source of consolation for Team Philippines which had a heartbreak loss in fencing and lost miserably in swimming.

The Philippines remained medal-less after three days as China made major strides with  22 golds, 13 silvers and 18 bronzes as of 7:40 last night.

Host Korea was behind with 14-13-15 count, and Japan has 11-12-16.

North Korea has three gold medals to show.

Myanmar is the best performing Southeast Asian country with two gold medals from its men’s and women’s doubles teams in sepak takraw.

Also having two golds each are Mongolia and Kazahkstan.

Vietnam and Malaysia, the Philippines’ rivals in the SEA Games, have a gold medal each in wushu.

The day was a big heartbreaker for a debuting University of the East fencer who failed to advance after he was denied of clear seven hits that earned howls of protest from the crowd.

Nathaniel Perez and his coach, Benny Garcia, rued the bad calls by Chinese referee Hu Hanxiong in the men’s foil event. Those hits were given to Almansoori Majed Sultan Ali of the United Arab Emirates, who cruised to a 15-11 triumph over Perez after rallying to tie at 10. The complexion of the match changed after that.

“Those seven points would have won us the round of 16,” said a dejected Garcia. “We could have earned that ticket to the quarterfinal round where we should have faced another strong entry whom Nathaniel had beaten in their previous outings. But we lost many points and we are allowed to file complaints only twice, according to fencing rules.”

Fencing officials reviewed the video of two of the controversial hits but still awarded them to Ali.

Perez,the 2013 University of the East Athlete of the Year, defeated Fujino Daiki of Japan, 5-3; Yahya Hassan Hazari of Saudi Arabia, 5-2; Khalid Fahad Mishaab of Qatar, 5-3; and Abbas FAA Ali of Kuwait, 5-3.

His only loss in the preliminaries came at the hands of Ma Jianfei of China, 3-5.

Another Filipino entry in foil, Wilfred Richard Curioso, also bowed out of the round of 16 after a clear 15-5 defeat at the hands of Chen Haiwei of China.

Veteran Asian Gamer Benjamin Tolentino failed to advance in the repechage of the lightweight men’s scull of rowing, placing fourth in his group.

Jasmine Alkhadi placed third in the third heat of the women’s 100 freestyle of swimming, but her 56.92 seconds still fell short of the magic 8.

The archery competition will start today for the rankings, but the official computer scheduling system of the Games, has yet to include the list.

The men’s singles of bowling will also be played with Enrico Lorenzo Hernandez, who has recovered from a bum stomach, joining Jo Mar Roland, Frederick Ong, Benshir Layoso, Engelberto Rivera and Kenneth Chua in the hunt for the gold medal.

Rowers Roque Abala and Alvin Amposta will be back to the repechage of the men’s doubles sculls.

Alkhadi will also race in Heat 1 of the women’s 100-m butterfly.

Daniel Parantac will play in the men’s Taijiquan of wushu.