BANGKOK—Taekwondo prospects Jeffrey Figueroa and Marlon Avenido scored huge victories while Karla Alava came up with a close win on Tuesday to assure themselves of bronze medals in the Asian Martial Arts Games.
Figueroa, 23, dominated Abadl Muaadh Najiahmed of Yemen, 7-3, in the quarterfinal round of the bantamweight division, while Avenido, 20, clobbered Vo Huang Giao of Vietnam, 5-1, in the welterweight quarterfinal at the Indoor Stadium Huamark Sport Authority of Thailand.
Alava, 18, had a tougher match but managed a 3-2 win over 20-year-old Natthaya Sangsasiton of Thailand to reach the women’s bantamweight semifinals.
The semifinal matches were set on Tuesday. They are looking to match or surpass Kirstie Elaine Alora’s silver-medal finish in the women’s middleweight on Monday. Judoka Karen Ann Solomon also bagged bronze on Monday.
Kim Hong Sik, the Philippine team’s taekwondo coach, said his athletes did not make any adjustments after the first day when John Paul Lizardo, Alexander Briones and Crizabelle Vargas crashed out one after the other.
“Some days you are lucky, some days you are not,” said Kim. “They just need to do their best.”
Figueroa beat Oken Meitei Mutum of India, 5-0, in the first round while Avenido, a 2007 US Open gold medalist, had a first-round bye.
After her Thai opponent unleashed an axe kick to the head to tie the fight at 2-2 in the third and final round, Alava sneaked in a counter-45 for a 3-2 lead, then escaped with another axe kick that could have merited two points for the Thai.
“Tumama pero daplis lang,” described Alava, a Hotel and Restaurant Management student at the Far Eastern University who is in her first international competition as a senior member of the national team.
In muay at the Nimibutr Building National Stadium, the Filipino bets were eliminated also one after the other.
Light-welterweight Jonathan Polosan lost to Roman Semerin of Kazakhstan, 0-5, and bantamweight Romnick Pabalate was dispatched by Sattra Paleenaram of Thailand via the same score in the first round.
Maria Camille Manalo battles a Chinese on Wednesday, taekwondo’s final day of competition.
Wushu also begins on Wednesday at the Silpa-archa Building Central Stadium in Suphanburi Province with Mary Jane Estimar and Mariane Mariano opening their campaign in women’s sanshou.
Korea leads the medal tally with eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals, followed by Japan with 5-1-1, Kazakhstan (4-2-1) and Thailand (2-3-5).
Reuben Terrado
Business Mirrors
Bronze Stories From Asian Martial Arts
