By: Nelson Beltran (The Philippine Star)
All-Filipina duel in ju-jitsu
JAKARTA – Margarita Ochoa outfought Jenna Kaila Napolis in an all-Filipina bronze-medal match in the new sport of ju-jitsu as Team Phl regained some winning momentum heading to the final week of the 18th Asian Games in various battlefronts here.
A prospect of another double-medal haul loomed before Carlos Yulo was bumped off the Top Three then eventually settled for fourth place in men’s vault in gymnastics at the Jakarta International Expo Hall.
SEA Games gold medalist Dines Dumaan and Jefferson Rhey Loon, meanwhile, whipped their separate quarterfinal rivals to book their spots in the semifinals and assure themselves of at least bronze medals at the Pencak Silat TMII hall.
Dumaan, who broke a 13-year-old gold-medal drought in the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur last year, crushed India’s Naorem Boynao Singh, 5-0, in the men’s 50-55 kgs Class B quarterfinals while Loon dominated Kyrgyzstan’s Almazbek Zamirov, 4-0, in the men’s Class D 60-65-kgs quarterfinals of tanding (sparring).
Princesslyn Enopia, however, took a 0-5 beating at the hands of Laotian Sounthavong Olathai in the round-of-8 to bow out of the women’s 50-55 kgs Class D division.
Dumaan faces Malaysian Muhammad Fayzul Nazir while Loon takes on Vietnam Nguyen Ngoc Tuan in the semifinals tomorrow.
It’s almost the same time at dusk over at the Jakarta Convention Center when Ochoa and Napolis figured in a repeat of their all-Filipina title match in the Asian championships in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan earlier this year.
This time, they slugged it out just for the bronze medal as both were beaten in their third match in the day and had to survive the repechage.
As in Ashgabat, Ochoa proved to be the superior fighter, pulling off a 2-0 victory for the bronze that weighed a lot for Team Phl after a day of heartaches and heartbreaks, stopping the momentum of the contingent’s harvest of one gold and five bronze medals on the first four days of competitions.
Even then, the Philippines dropped deeper behind the leaders among all the teams and among Southeast Asia teams in the medal tally.
China raised its haul to 66 gold, 46 silver and 27 bronze medals on the steady dominant showings of its world-class athletes. With the exploits of its own elite bets, Japan remained at second with 29-31-43, followed by Korea (22-26-28), Iran (12-11-8) then the host country (9-9-14).
The Philippines, with 1-0-6, dropped down to sixth among the Southeast Asians as Singapore (2-1-6) jumped past the Philippines, Malaysia (1-4-1) and Vietnam (1-6-9) on a two-gold blitzkrieg by Olympic champion swimmer Joseph Schooling.
Still, it proved to be a better day with Cebuano WeiWei Gao firing a five-under 67 to move within three strokes of Japanese Keita Nakajima in the second round of men’s individual play of golf at the Pondok Indah layout.
Gao, who charged back at the front to salvage a 72 Monday, gunned down seven birdies, including three in the last seven holes at the back. He did commit a couple of miscues that led to bogeys on Nos. 3 and 10 but the Univ. of Virginia sophomore bounced back from those mishaps with a string of birdies to put himself in contention for medal honors.
With a 139 aggregate, Gao tied India’s Aadil Bedi, who made a 70, at third, just three behind Nakajima, who carded a second 68 for a 136 and a one-stroke lead over Korean Hoyoung Choi, who also turned in a 68.
But while Gao rebounded to figure for medal race in the last 36 holes, the Phl men’s team lagged at 432 despite recovering from a 223 with a 209 as teammates Lloyd Go carded a 71-145, Luis Castro also shot a 71-148, and Rupert Zaragosa III hardly improved from a 77 with a 73.
Japan pooled a 206 for a 414, padding its lead to six over India, which made a 420 after a 207 while Korea remained in third at 423 after a 209.
The Pinay golfers also made waves, rallying into the Top Three with a five-under second round of 139 for a 36-hole 282 total. They however lay nine shots behind the Chinese, who pooled a 273 after a 135, and four behind the second running Japanese (142-278).
Yuka Saso fired four birdies against a bogey for a three-under 69 after a one-under 71 as she stood as the best-placed Phl bet in the individual play at joint fifth, five behind pacesetter Du Mohan of China, going to the last two rounds of play.
Bianca Pagdanganan was another two strokes down with a two-under 142.
The Philippines hopes to sustain the surge today with Daniel Caluag, the country’s lone gold medalist in the 2014 Incheon Asiad, returning to defend his title in the men’s BMX over at the Jakarta International BMX Track.
The contingent is also pinning its hopes on the other ju-jitsu fighters and the karatekas who plunge into action today.
Then there’s the athletics team that parades Fil-Am sprinter Kristina Marie Knott, long jumper Janry Ubas and decathlete Aries Toledo at the start of track-and-fieldcompetitions at the Gelaro Bung Karno Sports Complex.
Ochoa, a judoka that has shifted to jiu-jitsu, outfought Jordanian Yasmin Alkhatib, 2-1, then mauled Thai Siramul Deepudsa, 2-0, before being relegated to the repechage by Vietnamese Thi Thanh Minh (via superiority).
Napolis, meanwhile, sent UAE’s Wadima Alyafei into submission, then rolled past Indonesia’s Santi Apriyani before being stopped by Cambodia’s Jessa Khan also via submission.
Both survived the repechage semis to set up their bronze-medal showdown.
Three Phl male ju-jitsu bets in Jan Vincent Cortez, Marc Alexander Lim and Gian Taylor Dee failed to make it past the Round of 16.
After his sorry seventh-place finish from No. 1 ranking in the qualifying round in floor exercise, Yulo pulled off some amount of redemption on a near medal finish in the vault.
He wound up fourth with 13.662 as against the 14.612 of eventual gold medal winner Shek Wai Hung of Macau, 14.550 silver medalist Kim Hansol of Korea and 14.125 of Indon Agus Prayoko.
Elreen Ando had her near win in placing fourth in women’s 63kg with a total score of 201.
Meanwhile, sport climber Gerald Verosil placed 15th in men’s combined qualification.
The lady bowlers continued to struggle in the face of tough opposition, rolling only 3916 for fifth place in the first block in the Team of Six event.
Korea paced the 12-team field with 4091 with Malaysia coming in second at 4024 then Chinese Taipei at 4018 and Japan at 3917.
The compound mixed team lost by five to Bangladesh, 149-154, in round of 16 in archery while the men’s foil routed Nepal, 45-3, in the round of 16 before being waylaid by Korea, 18-45, in the quarterfinals in fencing.
The Filipino bets suffered heavy beating almost everywhere in the morning sessions.
Jasmine Alkhaldi clocked 26.20 in women’s 50m freestyle and failed to qualify in the final.
In sepak takraw, the Philippines bowed to Japan, 1-2, in men’s team doubles.
