Asian Martial Arts Games: RP bets win silver, bronze medals but drops out of Top 10

Team Philippines added bronze and silver medals in its haul in the 1st Asian Martial Arts Games on Friday at the Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Jul-Omar Abdulhakim contributed a silver medal while teammates Marie Charilou Rabino and Joemil Solomon finished with bronze medals in their respective pencak silat divisions. Adbulhakm absorbed a 0-5 defeat versus Luftan Budi Sanyosa of Indonesia in the finals of the men’s class B (50-55-kg) category to fail of winning the much-coveted gold medal. Rabino brought home a bronze in the women’s class D (60-65-kg) division while Solomon earned the men’s class D (65-70-kg) category bronze. Muay artist May Libao salvaged a bronze medal in women’s light flyweight class for RP’s fifth bronze after taekwondo’s Jeffrey Figueroa gave the Philippines its first gold medal last Tuesday. However, the additional silver and bronze medals were not enough for the Philippines to keep its 10th place overall and slid down to 14th. Passing the Philippines in the medal tally were Malaysia, Uzbekistan, India and war-ravaged Afghanistan, which is now at 10th spot with two gold, one silver and four bronze medal haul “I tried to be aggressive early on and kept attacking him, but the scores were not counted," said the 25-year old Abdulhakim. “At least I reached the finals. This tournament is a good test (for me) going into the SEA Games." The focus now turns to Marna Pabillore of karate, Zaidy Laruan of muay and Mark Ediva of wushu as the Philippines resumes its hunt for more medals in the tournament. Pabillore eached the final four round of the women's kumite 55-kg with a 4-3 win over Minh Phung Nguyen of Vietnam while Ediva blanked Rinat Livensho of Kazakhstan, 2-0, in the men’s sanshou 55-kg. Laruan, as of this posting, was still competing against 2007 SEA Games titlist Kwangkhwang Weerapol of Thailand in the finals. Finals in the karatedo and wushu will be held on Saturday while the closing ceremonies of the first and last Martial Arts Games is scheduled on Sunday. The tournament will be held as part of the Asian Indoor Games in 2013. – Perry Legaspi, GMANews.TV