Charly Suarez of the Philippines celebrates his silver-medal finish in the men’s light weight boxing of the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. (AP)
Incheon, South Korea—Unless the country’s last remaining bet in karatedo comes up with a miracle Saturday, this is how the country’s medal count will look like when the curtains fall in the 17th Asian Games: One gold, Three silvers and 11 bronzes.
The last push for a second gold medal fell short Friday, when Charly Suarez dropped a split decision to Mongolia’s Otgondalai Dorjnyambuu in the finals of boxing’s lightweight class at Seonhak Gymnasium here.
With everything resting on his shoulders as far as the gold was concerned—the country’s last three taekwondo bets could only produce a bronze medal while karate managed to chip in another bronze—Suarez tried to pick apart a rangy Dorjnyambuu, who used his length to hold the Filipino at bay.
“I guess I lost, that’s it,” said Suarez, whose dark skin tone camouflaged the light bruise underneath his right eye. “I don’t have any explanations and I don’t want to make any excuses.”
Suarez managed to reel in the Mongolian in exchanges where he connected on crisp shots. Dorjnyambuu also got cut above the eye because of a clash of heads during one of those skirmishes and had to be checked twice by the ringside doctor. But Suarez could not cash in on the opportunity, unable to assemble flurries that could have swayed the judges.
“I don’t know,” Suarez said when asked why he couldn’t press the attack more against an opponent he had already beaten before. “I guess he just threw more punches.”
Suarez was the last Filipino bet standing in boxing Friday. Mark Anthony Barriga, who lost a questionable decision to hometown bet Shin Jonghun, who won the light flyweight gold Friday, received his bronze medal along with Mario Fernandez and Wilfredo Lopez.
In taekwondo, Kirstie Elaine Alora reached the semifinal of the women’s -73kg class but dropped a close decision to Seavmey Sorn of Cambodia, 6-5, after a spirited rally that just ran out of time.
Alora was down, 6-1, going into the final round when she unleashed four points to come close to making it to the final. Instead, she settled for the bronze at faraway Ganghwa Dolmens Gymnasium.
John Paul Lizardo failed to make the quarterfinals after he was shown the door by Ghazanfar Ali of Pakistan, 14-12, in their round-of-16 duel in the -54kg class. Francis Agojo, meanwhile, wasn’t able to get out of the quarterfinal round after losing to Yuma Yamada of Japan in an action-packed encounter, 18-16.
In Karate, Mae Soriano defeated Cok Istri Aqung Samistrayani of Indonesia, 11-3, for the bronze medal in the women’s -55kg of karatedo at Gyeyang Gymnasium.
The country’s haul breakdown is led by Daniel Caluag’s gold in cycling’s BMX event. The three silver medals came from boxing and wushu (2). The 11 bronze medals are from archery, boxing, taekwondo, karatedo and wushu.
The Philippines finished seventh among Southeast Asian Nations. Thailand led the region with 12-7-8 (gold-silver-bronze) and was logged at sixth overall. Malaysia (14th overall) was second with 5-14-14, Singapore (15th) had 5-16-12, Indonesia (17th) had 4-5-11, Myanmar (20th) had 2-1-1 and Vietnam (20th) had 2-1-1.
The Philippines was at 21st overall as of 6:53 p.m. (5:35 p.m. in Manila.)
CONTROVERSIAL MATCHES
Meanwhile, Philippine Chief of Mission Ricardo ‘Ritchie’ Garcia sent a letter to Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) president Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, requesting for a review of the controversial matches that affected the results of fights involving not only the Philippines but also Mongolia, India, Japan and others.
Garcia’s letter came after Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) Executive Director Ed Picson called the attention of Asiad Boxing Tournament Supervisor David Francis following the controversial 3-0 defeat by flyweight Ian Clark Bautista to Korean pug Choe Sangdon on Saturday. /Francis T.J. Ochoa
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