Heartbreakers at the Asian Games
The tally could’ve been more than four gold, two silver and 15 bronzes for the Philippines in the recent Asian Games but there were several heartbreakers along the way that led to a lot of tears, gnashing of teeth, endless discussions of whatifs and dreams of hope of a higher finish in the future.
Landing fourth and a spot away from a podium finish were gymnast Carlo Yulo in vault, the women’s bowling team of six, 63 kilogram weightlifter Elreen Ando and the women’s softball team.
Yulo, 18, competed in seven events but made it to the finals in only three. He finished seventh in the floor exercise and eighth in the all-around but in vault, wound up fourth. Yulo, however, was a distant fourth, compiling 13.662 points to Indonesian third placer Agus Prayato’s 14.125. The gold medalist was Hong Kong’s Shek Wai Hung who finished with 14.612 points.
The women’s bowling team of six came tantalizingly close to a bronze, amassing 7,951 pinfalls to third placer Chinese Taipei’s 7,969. Liza del Rosario led the charge with 1,408. Del Rosario’s total was the second highest of any bowler in the event as gold medalist South Korea’s top individual mark was 1,403, silver medalist Malaysia’s was 1,298 and bronze medalist Chinese-Taipei’s was 1,211. Others in the Philippine squad were Lourdes Arles, Dyan Coronacion, Rachelle Leon, Lara Posadas and Alexis Sy.
Ando came in fourth in the 63 kilogram class of women’s weightlifting but wasn’t close to a podium finish. She lifted a total of 201 kilograms in the snatch and clean and jerk while Thai third placer Rattanawan Wamalun hoisted 225. Gold medalist Kim Hyo Sim of North Korea was way ahead with 250.
The Blu Girls blew a golden opportunity to claim a guaranteed bronze in the preliminaries against Chinese-Taipei. The Philippines has never earned a medal in softball at the Asian Games since the sport was introduced in 1990. The Blu Girls led, 2-1, at the top of the fourth after Hailey Decker cracked a two-run homer. But the Taipei squad, ranked No. 5 in the world, equalized at the bottom of the same inning. The Philippines loaded the bases in the fifth, sixth and seventh but just couldn’t score, leaving eight players stranded.
At the bottom of the seventh, catcher Cheska Altomonte dropped the ball off a pitch and Taipei advanced a runner to second. A sacrifice fly moved the same runner to third then an error on the field clinched the contest for Taipei, 3-2. Both teams met again in the playoffs with a bronze at stake and this time, the Blu Girls couldn’t get going and dropped a 6-3 decision. It was quite a heroic effort by the Philippine team, ranked No. 15 in the world. Before the two losses to Taipei, the Philippines brought down Hong Kong, 7-0, South Korea, 5-3, world No. 12 China, 1-0 and host Indonesia, 4-0. An 11-1 loss to world No. 2 Japan wasn’t unexpected.
Still another heartbreaker was the Philippine women’s volleyball team’s five-set loss to world No. 21 Kazakhstan in the relegation match for fifth. The Philippines is nowhere near Kazakhstan in the world rankings at No. 79 but put up a gritty stand in bowing out, 25-11, 22-25, 25-15, 19-25, 16-14. In the fifth set, the Philippines led, 6-3 and 10-9 and leveled the count, 14-all on a Kazakh service error. But two straight points saved the day for Kazakhstan in the clutch.
The country’s darling volleybelles wound up eighth with only a win over Hong Kong to show and losses to Thailand, Japan, Indonesia twice, China and Kazakhstan. Both setbacks to Indonesia were four-setters. The win over Hong Kong was the Philippines’ first in 36 years in Asian Games women’s volleyball. The team showed the potential to become a
serious Asian contender with more exposure to international competition and less politics in governing the NSA.
Squash also had its heartbreaker as the men’s team lost a 2-1 decision to South Korea. The country’s No. 1 player Robert Garcia left it all on the court in disposing of Ko Young Jo, 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 12-10 and MacMac Begornia blew a 1-0 lead to lose to Lee Seung Taek, 3-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7. If the Philippines beat the Koreans, it would’ve notched two wins in the men’s team event. The only win came at Nepal’s expense as the Philippines had the luxury of resting Garcia and booked 3-0 sweeps with Begornia, David Pelino and Dondon Espinola.
In boxing, the heartbreakers were an avalanche. Women’s featherweight Nesthy Petecio lost a 3-2 split decision to China’s Yin Jun Hua in her opening match. One judge saw it a draw and was asked to break the tie, eventually handing the win to the Chinese. Two other Filipino boxers Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial were eliminated on disputed 3-2 verdicts. The most controversial loss was Marcial’s as it looked like he had done more than enough to beat Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov in the semifinals. Madrimov took a standing eight-count in the third round and didn’t deserve to win. The decision was loudly booed by the crowd and fighters from different countries went to Marcial’s locker room to console him after the bum verdict.
Finally, the biggest heartbreaker of all came in men’s basketball. The Philippines led China by three with less than two minutes left and Paul Lee had a clear shot for a triple that would’ve clinched the win with six seconds to go. But winning wasn’t meant to be for the Philippines as China escaped with an 82-80 squeaker. If the Philippines won, it would’ve advanced to face Indonesia in the quarterfinals and Chinese-Taipei in the semifinals, the route that China took to make it to the final where coach Li Nan’s squad bagged the gold by beating Iran. A win over China would’ve assured the Philippines of a ticket to the final and a guaranteed silver. The hastily-formed squad finished fifth, the country’s highest placing in 16 years.