TACHIANA Mangin and Kurt Barbosa added two silver medals to the Philippines' medal tally after losing in the finals in taekwondo on Friday night in the 20th Asian Games at the Toyohashi Gymnasium.
Mangin, a former world juniors champion and reigning Southeast Asian Games titlist, settled for a silver medal after a 2-0 loss to China’s Ma Jingyue in the women’s -49kg final.
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Barbosa also took the silver medal following a 2-0 defeat over Tamirlan Tleules of Kazakhstan in the men’s 58kg category.
Despite the losses, the pair of silvers was the best finish in kyorugi (full-contact taekwondo discipline) of the Philippines in the Asiad since Tshomlee Go and Toni Rivero also placed second in their respective events in 2006 in Doha.
Taekwondo also continued to produce on the second day of the competitions after starting the day with a gold from Jeus Yape in the mixed virtual competition.
Yape and Juliana Candelaria swept the individual poomsae events to start the competitions on Thursday.
In total, the taekwondo team already has five medals, the most among the Philippine delegation, ahead of the final day on Saturday.
The 18-year-old Mangin advanced to the semifinal with a dramatic 2-1 win over Japan’s Ruka Okamoto. A late kick by Mangin to the head of Okamoti in the dying seconds tied the round at 3-3, leading to the judges giving the third and final round to Mangin.
Mangin also overcame Rita Bakisheva of Kazakhstan in the round of 16 and Wing Chieh-ling of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals, needing to win the third round to win all her bouts.
Barbosa stunned reigning Asian Championship gold medalist Jafar Aldaoud of Jordan, 2-0, to make it to the gold medal bout.
The 27-year-old Barbosa also won over Abdullah Essa Almushraf of Saudi Arabia, 2-0, in the round of 16, and Hidetaka Maeda of Japan, 2-1.
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