CORDILLERA athletes pulled off another impressive performance to tow the country's medal output in the ongoing Asian Indoor Games (AIG) in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Rhea May Rifani will try to win for the Philippines second gold when she faces Gong Jinlan of China in the finals of the 52kg sanshou event.

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Rifani scored a 2-1 win over Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Ngan in Wednesday's semis to set up a gold medal showdown with Jinlan, who is a 2-0 winner against Thuy Ngan.

"This is the first time that we will meet each other but I have seen her when I was part of the sanshou team which trained in China in 2007," said Rifani, a graduating student at the University of Cordilleras in a sports website.

Muay artist Zaide Laruan, Jay Harold Gregorio and Maricel Subang also secured bronze medals in their respective events being played at Rach Mieu Gymnasium in Ho Chi Minh City.

A bronze medal winner in the last AIG, Laruan pulled of a referee-stopped contest after outclassing Lam Man Hou of Macau in the quarterfinals of the 60kg class while Gregorio scored a unanimous decision verdict win Mustafa Al-Saraji of Iraq in the 67kg division.

Jennifer Lagilag also made it to the medal count but failed to bag the gold after bowing to a taller and more skillful Nguyen Thi Bich of host Vietnam in the semifinals of the 48kg division.

It was the third time Lagilag and Thi Bich faced each other in a tournament with the Vietnamese winning all matches. The first two meetings took place in 2007 during the World Wushu Championships in Beijing and the Thailand SeaGames.

Thi Bich immediately went to work against the 27-year-old Lagilag as the Vietnamese champion bloodied the Benguet native's nose in the first round.

Lagilag tried to counter in the second where she managed to push her opponent outside the ring.

"We're proud of the performance of Jennifer. As for Rhea, we expect a tough fight but we know she will be their fighting and giving her best to win the gold medal," said RP Chief of Mission and wushu secretary-general Julian Camacho.