RP Taekwondo Jins Takes Two More Golds
Brave RP taekwondo team takes two more golds for the Philippine team in the on-going 26th Sea Games in Vientiane, Laos. The two-time Olympian Mary Antoinette Rivero nailed down the gold, beating Vietnamese bet Nguyen Thi Duong, 9-3, in the welterweight (67 kg) class of taekwondo following silver medal finishes in the 2007 SEAG and in last year’s Asian championships.
Another gold was from Alexander Briones. He dominated Elit Soon of Cambodia in the heavyweight class, with 17-5 score to gain the country’s second gold of the day and third overall.
The first gold of the Philippine Team came from the poomsae team of taekwondo a day earlier courtesy of Janice Lagman, Rani Ann Ortega and Camille Alarilla.
On the other hand, Kirstie Elaine Alora completely outclassed Lee Wan Yuen of Malaysia, 10-1, in the heavyweight bout where the organizers waived the seven-margin mercy rule but got nipped by Thai Rapatkorn Prasopsuk, 4-3, to settle for the silver.
Filipino Swimmer, Miguel Molina take another gold for Team RP in the 400m Individual Medley. While his compatriot, Ryan Arabejo takes a silver medal in 200m Backstroke Men.
The golden efforts of the Filipino jins and swimmers at least negated the effects of three huge losses – one from the billiards hall, the other from road race and the third from the boxing arena.
World champions Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante unbelievably crashed out of the 9-Ball doubles competitions right in the first round, and moments later the pair of Reynaldo Grandea and Warren Kiamco got soundly beaten, 3-0, in the English Billiards doubles.
As of the posting time Team Philippines is 5th in overall medal standing with 4 golds, 5 silver and 5 bronze. Team Singapore is on the lead with 11 golds, 3 silver and 8 bronze.
