JAKARTA — Pauline Louise Lopez had to settle for the bronze after losing to her towering Chinese opponent in the 8th Asian Games taekwondo competitions at the Jakarta Convention Center Plenary Hall here on Tuesday.
The 5-foot-6 Lopez bowed to the six-footer Luo Zongshi, 4-11, in the women’s -57kg semifinal round to give the Philippines its fourth bronze medals in the 45-nation tournament hosted by Indonesia for the second time since 1962.
Luo, a silver medalist in the 2018 Asian Championships in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, will face Lee Ahreum of South Korea in the championship round.
Lee, who is ranked No. 2 in the world, scored a 12-10 victory over Vipawan Siripornpermsak of Thailand in the other semifinal match.
Lee won the gold medal four years ago in Incheon, South Korea. Last year, she bagged the gold in the World Championships in Muju, South Korea and World Grand Prix in Moscow, Russia.
To reach the semifinal, Lopez hurdled Feng Xiao of Macau, 8-0, in the round-of-16 and Gyani Chunara of Nepal, 20-0, in the quarterfinal round.
Meanwhile, Lopez’s teammates Kirstie Elaine Alora and Kristopher Robert Uy were sent packing by their respective foes.
Alora, a veteran of the 2016 Rio Olympics, absorbed a 7-8 loss to Cansel Deniz of Kazakhstan in the first round of the women’s +67kg category, while Kristopher Robert Uy fell to Sun Hongyi of China, 7-9, in the first round of the men’s +80kg category.
Three Filipino jins have already made their exits on Monday.
Jenar Torillos lost to Chen Xiaoyi of China, 26-27, in the men’s -58kg round-of-32; Darlene Mae Arpon was beaten by Kim Jandi of South Korea, 0-29, in the women’s -67kg quarterfinals and Rhezie Aragon fell to Elaheh Sheidaei of Iran, 2-10, in the women’s -53kg round-of-16.
Four more jins — Samuel Thomas Harper Morrison (-74kg), Arven Alcantara (-68kg), Francis Aaron Agojo (-58kg) and Baby Jessica Canabal (-49kg) — are scheduled to compete on Wednesday.
Morrison is a two-time SEA Games champion, winning the -74kg gold in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017) and the -68kg gold in Singapore (2015). He got the silver (-68kg) in the Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China (2011) and bagged the bronze (-74kg) in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
Alcantara won the silver and Agojo took the bronze in the 2017 SEA Games, while Canabal made it to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Asian Championships in Vietnam and the 2016 World Juniors Championships in Canada. (Jean Malanum/PNA)
