Monday, December 04, 2006 Filipino athletes still scrambling for 1st gold after 2nd day of Asiad
THE second day of competitions and the Filipinos are still scrambling for a medal in the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, yesterday with Philippines' top swimmer Miguel Molina falling short in making a podium finish in his first attempt for a gold at the Hamad Aquatic Center in Doha, Qatar.
Molina finished fourth place in the men’s 400 meter individual medley, in which Japan completed a 1-2 finish.
Molina was only 12 seconds behind eventual winner Hidemasa Sano, who clocked in a time of 4:16.18. Shinya Taniguchi and Korea’s Chul Kyu Han took silver and bronze medals respectively.
Molina, who has won three gold medals in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games last year, is set to compete in four more events in the coming days.
Another Pinoy tanker, James Walsh, managed to enter the finals of the Men’s 200m butterfly event but only wound up in 7th place in the final stage.
Scare
Meanwhile, at the Sports City, the country’s bets in beach volleyball, Heidi Ilustre and Diane Pascual are putting up quite a scare as they sneaked past Kazakhstan, 21-16, 11-21, 17-15, to win in their first assignment, which had lasted more than an hour.
Pascual was actually in tiptop shape having been perfect from the service lane. She also converted 20 of her 50 attacks into points. The duo will be pitted against powerhouse China in their next game.
In weightlifting at the Al-Dana Banquet, RP’s lone lady lifter, Hidilyn Diaz of Zamboanga City, floundered in her medal hopes as she only managed to finish at tenth place in the Women’s 53 kg class, lifting only a total of 162 kilograms (72kg snatch, 90 kg clean and jerk).
Eventual champion Ping Li of China, hauled a total of 224 kilos. Thailand and Hong Kong took the silver and the bronze,
However, Renante Briones, a Mandaue City native still has a chance to redeem the two-man weightlifting team in the Asiad as he is set to see action in the Men’s 105kg class later this week.
Seeing action yesterday are the road cyclists Warren Davadilla and Arnel Quirimit. The race was still ongoing as of press time yesterday. Baby Maritess Bitbit will be the lone female rider for RP. (MCB)
