A gold medal continues to elude the Philippines after a dismal day in the 19th Asian Games on Sept. 27, 2023 in China.
Olympian Margielyn Didal was supposed to be the biggest chance of the Philippines to win a gold medal but she had an awful performance and finished last in the Women’s Street Finals.
Didal ended up in seventh place with 23.39 points. Didal was the Asian Games champion in 2018.
Chinese Chenxi Cui won the gold medal with 242.62 points, followed by compatriot Wenhui Zeng with 236.61 points for the silver medal. Japanese Miyo Ito finished with a bronze with 229.59 points.
Meanwhile, Renzo Mark Feliciano also ended up last in the Street Men’s Finals with 48.59 points.
On the other hand, Mark Ashley Fajardo dropped out of contention in the Men’s lightweight division after bowing down to Chinese Wang Xiangyang.
Wang got all five judges beating Fajardo, 5-0.
The Philippine Judo Team also failed to win a medal in the Mixed Team event after losing to Thailand, 0-4.
The Philippines also lost its Men’s Team Pool A match in Squash to Hong Kong, 0-3.
Arven Alcantara and Dave Cea were eliminated in the quarterfinals of Men’s Taekwondo after losing their respective matches. Alcantara lost to Jordan’s Zaid Abdul Kareem, 0-2, in the 68-KG weight class, while Cea was defeated by Iran’s Mehran Barkhordari, 0-2, in the 80-KG weight division.
The Philippines went 1-1 in the Dream Three Kingdoms 2 event of Esports.
The Philippines beat Uzbekistan,1-0, and then lost to Kazakhstan, 0-1.
One of the shining moments in the day was Alex Eala’s win over Japanese Kyoka Okamura in the Women’s Singles quarterfinals in Tennis. Eala beat Okamura in three sets - 0-6, 7-5 and 6-0.
As of press time, three Pinoys were fighting for a spot in the finals of Wushu.
Arnel Mandal was up against Kyrgyzstan’s Avazbek Amanbekov in the Men’s 56-KG semifinals, Gideon Fred Padua took on Iran’s Shoja Panahigelehkolaei in the Men’s 60-KG semifinals and Clement Tabugara Jr. fought Indonesia’s Samuel Marbun in the Men’s 65-KG semifinals.
The Philippines was still at 26th place in the medal tally with two bronzes, as of press time. / EKA