Agatha Wong does her routine in the women’s wushu Taijijian event of the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam. | Photo from Team Philippines 2022 SEA Games
CEBU CITY, Philippines— Agatha Wong delivered a gold medal for Team Philippines by topping the women’s wushu taijijian (taolu) event in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.
It was a sweet redemption for the 23-year-old wushu artist who lost her crown in the taijiquan (taolu) on Saturday, settling only for silver medal in the event.
However, on Sunday, May 15, 2022, Wong snatched the gilt in the taijijian (taolu) event, joining Kim Mangrobang who earlier hauled her second gold medal in the SEA Games by dominating the women’s individual duathlon, a day after topping the women’s triathlon race.
“I’m so thankful,” said Wong, who admitted coming here with very little expectations because the Filipinos only had two months to train under a bubble setup in Manila.
“We must remember na may pandemic. Kaya yung kahapon I was thankful naka-silver ako. Kahit bronze pa ‘yan I’d still be thankful,”said Wong, in her black Team Philippines tracksuit, after fulfilling the post-event doping requirements.
Wong amazed the judges in the wushu’s taijijian (taolu) event by gracefully executing her routine while wielding a double-edged sword to garner 9.71 points to outperform nine other competitors.
Hometown bets Huyen Tran Thi and Trang Tran earned 9.70 and 9.69 points for the silver and bronze, respectively.
Wong prevented the Philippines a shutout in the wushu event by winning the lone gold medal. Along with her lone gold medal, her fellow Filipino wushu artists contributed two silvers and two bronzes.
It was a complete contrast of their dominating performance in the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines where they bagged seven gilts, two silvers and two bronzes.
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