JAKARTA – The Philippines collected another bronze medal in the 18th Asian Games after boxer Carlo Paalam bowed to India’s Amit, 2-3, in the men’s light flyweight semifinal match at the Jakarta International Exhibition Center in Kemayoran on Friday night.
The Philippines now ranks No. 19 in the medal tally board with four golds, one silver and 14 bronzes.
Meanwhile, Hermie Macaranas and Ojay Fuentes placed third in the preliminary round to reach the final of canoe’s 200-meter men’s doubles at the Jakabaring Sports City Lake in Palembang.
The pair registered the third-best time of 41.441 seconds among five teams. China’s Xing Song and Li Quiang topped Heat 1 in 38.473 seconds while Kazakhstan’s Merey Medetov and Timur Khaidarov clocked 38.762 seconds to finish second.
Also moving to the medal round are Uzbekistan’s Artur Guliev (38.084), Indonesia’s Anwarr Tarra and Marjuki Marjuki (41.221) and Iran’s Pezhman Divsalari and Adel Mojallalimoghadam (41.596).
The finals is set at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. Manila time) on Saturday.
National coach Len Escollante is hopeful that the 200-meter men’s doubles team will bring home a medal.
“The boys will keep on fighting. The opposition is tough, but we’ll see tomorrow,” said Escollante.
In triathlon, Kim Mangrobang clocked two hours, five minutes and 20 seconds to finish seventh place in the women’s competition. Filipino-American Kim Kilgroe placed ninth (2:06:57).
Japan’s Yuko Takahashi won the gold medal with a time of 1:59.29 while China’s Zhong Mengying clocked 2:01.16 to take the silver medal. Macau’s Hoi Long submitted 2:01.28 to pocket the bronze medal.
“Masayang-masaya na rin po ako sa naging resulta ng laro ko. Nag-training kami ng mahirap para dito pareho ng mga kalaban. Lahat nag-handa (I am still happy with the result. We trained hard just like the other competitors. We all prepared),” said the 27-year-old Mangrobang, who hails from Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
Mangrobang, who won the gold medal at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, improved her ninth-place finish in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. Kilgroe, who joined the national team two years ago, said she is satisfied with her performance.
“Just being here is already an awesome experience for me. To be able to play for our country and get a good finish exceeded my expectations,” said Kilgroe, who competed in the Asian Championships from 2015 to 2017, but is a first-timer in the Asian Games.
Niko Huelgas, the reigning SEA Games champion, and John Chicano will compete in the men’s event scheduled on Saturday. (Jean Malanum/PNA)
