KURT Bryan Barbosa delivered the lone gold medal for the Philippines on the final day of taekwondo competitions in the 30th Southeast Asian Games on Monday at Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
The 20-year-old Barbosa decimated Indonesian foe Reinaldy Atmanegara, 26-10, to win the men's -54 kg category.
In full control was the UAAP rookie MVP that a huge axe kick to the head of Atmanegara late in the first round served as the highlight to his conquest, making it a 12-3 lead before dominating his opponent on his way to the gold.
Barbosa also had the same decisive result in the semis, taking a 58-6 victory over Hoang Duc Anh of Vietnam.
Rheza Aragon losing to Panipak Wongpattanakit, 35-2, in the women's -49 kg (fly) division final.
It was a tough finish for Aragon, who was coming off of a superb 43-0 blowout of Rosa Luisa Dos Santos of Timor Leste in the semis, but was unable to hurdle Wongpattanakit, who led 22-2 after two rounds.
The Philippines also got four bronze medals as hometown jins fell in the semis.
Dex Ian Chavez could not cut Thai foe Ramnarong Sawekwiharee down to size, losing 11-37 in the semis of men's -58 kg (fly).
Kurt Pajuelas also bowed to Malaysia's Iman Rakib Hakim, 12-21 in the men's -63 kg (bantam) category semifinals.
Veronica Garces lost 13-8 to Julalan Khantikulanon of Thailand in the semis of the women's -46 kg (fin) class.
Baby Jessica Canabal got silenced in the women's -53 kg (bantam) division, falling 6-0 to Indonesia's Mariska Halinda in the semifinals.
In total, the Philippine taekwondo team delivered eight gold, nine silver, and four bronze medals in this edition of the SEA Games.
The kyorugi competitions delivered four gold, five silver, and four bronze medals to follow up on the poomsae team's four gold and four silver output.
This is a big improvement after the country's 2-3-4 (gold-silver-bronze) haul two years ago in Kuala Lumpur.
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