Asian Martial Arts Games: Alora misses gold by a heartbeat

Taekwondo jin Kristie Elaine Alora failed in her quest to become the first Filipino gold medalist in the 1st Martial Arts Games on Monday at the Indoor Stagium Huamark in Bangkok, Thailand. Alora absorbed a heart-wrenching 0-1 defeat to Yeh Fung Chiang of Taipei in the finals of the women’s middleweight class to settle for the silver. “It was very devastating," said the 19-year-old Alora, whose loss left taekwondo’s gold medal bid on the shoulders of Marlon Avenido and Karla Jane Alava. Alora, the 2006 Southeast Asian Games champion, earlier dominated Indonesian opponent Seliana Angelina, 5-0, in the quarterfinals and prevailed over 6-foot-1 Ping Yang of China, 1-0, to earn a place in the gold medal match. “She (Ping) was taller, stronger, but I played her with a lot of heart," Alora said. “I simply refused to give up. It was my defense that pulled me through." Complementing Alora’s silver was the bronze captured by Karen Ann Solomon in judo. Solomon salvaged a bronze with dominating win over Setiawati Kamishihogatame Ippon of Indonesia in the repechage. More to come? “It’s only the second day of the competition and we’re expecting more medals to come," said RP chef de mission Dave Carter as the Philippines officially barged into the medal tally. “It’s good that our pre-tournament expectations are slowly being met," added Carter, who is also the president of the Philippine Amateur Judo Association. Several of the Filipino campaigners had already bombed out of the tournament with jins Japoy Lizardo, Alex Briones, Crizabelle Vargas, judokas Dennis Catipon, Helen Dawa and 44-year-old John Baylon falling by the way side. Also losing their elimination matches were muay artists Rolando Claro and Maricel Subang. Among the participating countries, Korea showed the way with a four-gold, one-silver and two-bronze collection with Japan close behind with four golds and a bronze. – Perry Legaspi, GMANews.Tv