Jins assured of 3 bronzes in Asian Martial Arts Games

Filipino taekwondo jins on Wednesday assured the Philippines of at least three bronze medals in the 1st Asian Martial Arts Games at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok, Thailand. Jeff Figueroa, Karla Alava and Marlon Avenido reached the semifinals of their respective divisions to earn an automatic bronze medal, which they could better based on their performances in the medal rounds. Figueroa blanked Oken Meiti Mutum of India, 7-0, in the preliminaries of the men’s bantamweight class before downing Muaadh Najiahmed Abadi of Yemen, 7-3, to enter the semifinals. The Filipino arranged a semis meeting with Thailand's Nattapong Tewawetchapong. Alava, for her part, nipped Thailand's Natthaya Sangsasiton, 3-2, in the quarterfinals of the women’s bantamweight class to follow Avenido, who gave Vo Hoang Giao of Vietnam a 5-1 beating in the quarterfinals of the men’s welterweight, into the final four round. “We did not prepare anything special, I just told them to go out there and play your best - nothing more, nothing less," said RP Team coach Hong Sik Kim. “These kids are the young blood, the future of Philippine taekwondo. They want to give not their 99 percent, but their 100 percent all the time. They know what it takes to win," he added. The Philippines’ old reliables failed the country this time as veteran judoka John Baylon and jins Alex Briones and Japoy Lizardo were eliminated early in their respective division. But Kristie Elaine Alora of taekwondo and Karen Ann Solomon of judo saved the day for the Philippines on Monday. Alora missed the gold as she suffered a heart-wrenching 0-1 defeat to Yeh Fung Chiang of Taipei in the finals of the women’s middleweight category while Solomon defeated Settiawatti Kamishihogatame Ippon of Indonesia in repechage of the women’s middleweight class to salvage a bronze medal finish. Overall, powerhouse Korea occupied the top of the leader board with eight gold, four silver and three bronze medals with Japan at close second with a 5-1-1 medal haul. – Perry Legaspi, GMANews.Tv