Gilas set for battle
Chris Ross with coach Tim Cone.
THE Philippine men’s basketball team held a light workout on the day it arrived in Hangzhou for the Asian Games.
Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, Jason Perkins and Mo Tautuaa did not make the trip on Saturday, as expected, after being left out of the squad for Gilas’ only tuneup game. The quartet were also absent when the team held its final practice before leaving for China.
Kevin Alas, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, CJ Perez and Arvin Tolentino were the late call-ups, joining Justin Brownlee, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana and Ange Kouame.
The Philippines first takes on Bahrain, while also in its group are Jordan and Thailand.
Bronze for Philippines in Poomsae
Patrick Perez
PATRICK Perez delivered the Philippines’ first medal in the Asian Games, earning a bronze medal as he bowed out at the semifinal stage of poomsae on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Perez was given 6.910 in the discipline that combined both freestyle and recognized events, losing to Ma Yun Zhong of Chinese Taipei who got 7.450 points to advance to the gold medal match.
Perez assured himself of a medal by defeating Prem Bahadur Limbu of Nepal in the quarterfinals.
Fajardo, Marcial off to strong start
Eumir Marcial.
MARK Ashley Fajardo came up with a first-round knockout of Dorji Wangdi of Bhutan in the first round of the 63.5 kg class in boxing in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial, seeing action as a lightweight for the first time, dominated Dalai Gadzorig, 5-0, to advance to the round-of-16.
Marcial earned bronze in the -75kg in the Tokyo Olympics and is now in the 80 kg class. He sat out the 2022 Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi due to a hand injury.
Meanwhile, two Filipina boxers fell by the wayside.
Nigina Uktamova of Uzbekistan overpowered Olympian Irish Magno, 5-0, in the 54kg class, while Yesugen Oyuntsetseg dominated Aira Villegas, 3-1, in the 50kg class.
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