HANGZHOU – Arnel Mandal gave Team Philippines its first clear shot at a gold in the 19th Asian Games after advancing to the final of the wushu men’s sanda at the XGS Sports Center Wednesday night.
Arnel Mandal Asian Games result
Mandal scored a convincing 2-0 win over Amanbekov Avazbek of Kyrgyzstan in the 56 kg class semifinals that assured him of at least a silver.
He gets a chance to upgrade the medal to a glittering gold when he takes on Jiang Haidong of China in the final. Jiang also scored a similar 2-0 victory against Hua Van Doan of Vietnam in the other semifinal bout.
Mandal, a 28-year-old Ilonggo and gold medal winner in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam, vows to leave everything on the floor in his last and final bout.
“Yun nga ang sinasabi nila sa akin na malapit na kami sa step by step na pagkuha ng medalya. Kaya kahit dikitan yung laban, hindi ako susuko,” said Mandal following the semifinal win.
The two other Filipino wushu bet however, failed to march on as they lost their respective semifinal battle.
Nursing what wushu officials as a suspected broken nose, Gideon Padua was no longer allowed to fight by the Wushu Federation of the Philippines in his 60 kg class match against Shoja Panahigelehkolaei of Iran so as not to aggravate the injured nose he suffered in the quarterfinals.
CJ Tabugara also lost in his bid for the gold after going down, 2-0, against Ina Marbun of Indonesia in the men’s 65 kg semis.
But both Padua and Tabugara are already assured of the bronze to add to the early bronze medal won by Jones Inso in the men’s taijiquan and taijijian all-around.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
