HANGZHOU – Everything came to a halt for Team Philippines as it ended up medal-less Tuesday in the 19th Asian Games.
Team Philippines Asian Games recap September 26
From the loss of Ross ‘NoobFromPH’ Villarin of Esports to swimmer Kayla Sanchez coming short again of a podium finish, the Filipinos have nothing to show as Day Three of the continental meet came to a close.
The country remained stuck with two bronze medals under its belt and relegated it two notches down the medal tally at no. 22.
On a slow day for the rest of the Philippine contingent, the 22-year-old Sanchez, a silver and bronze medalists in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, appeared to be in the best position to land a medal after finishing third in the morning heat of the women’s 100 m freestyle with a new national record of 54.70 seconds.
Unfortunately, the young Fil-Canadian could only muster a fifth-place finish in the final despite breaking her earlier record in the same event with a time of 54.69 seconds. Siobhan Bernadette Haughey of Hong Kong won the gold medal with a new meet record of 52.17 seconds.
“This is my first international competition since my residency. I came in here to get back to the environment and atmosphere,” she said following her event. “I’m slowly getting more comfortable, and I’m really happy for my races so far.”

Sanchez still has a race to swim on Wednesday when she competes in the 50-meter freestyle.
But the country has several more to offer in its bid to equal the four gold medals it won in the 2018 Palembang Asiad.
World no. 2 pole vaulter EJ Obiena has yet to see action, the same with Olympic gold medal winner Hidilyn Diaz and Asian champion Vanessa Sarno, while Olympian Margielyn Didal will go for a second gold in the women’s street skateboarding during Wednesday’s final.
Host China further pulled away on top of the medal tally with 53 golds, 29 silvers, and 13 bronzes, even as South Korea finally broke through with a double digit gold haul of 14 to add to its 16 silver and 19 bronze medals.
Japan (8-20-19), Uzbekistan (5-6-11), and Hong Kong (5-4-10) round up the Top 5.
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