KURT Barbosa fell short in his bid to return to the Olympic Games after finishing third in the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tai’an, China.
The Filipino jin failed to get past the semifinals after bowing to Samirkhon Ababakirov of Kazakhstan, 2-0, in the men’s -58kg division. The two finalists in each weight category clinch an Olympic berth in Paris.
The three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist salvaged his campaign by taking the bronze medal with a 2-0 win over Riad Hamdi of Saudi Arabia.
Barbosa overcame Chalinda Liyanage of Sri Lanka and Chiok Chun Yin of Hong Kong to reach the final four.
Tachiana Keizha Mangin (women’s -49kg) and Baby Jessica Cabanal (women’s -57kg) also came one victory short of an Olympic berth after being outclassed by Dunya Abutaleb of Saudi Arabia, 2-0, and Laetitia Aoun of Lebanon, 2-0, respectively.
Arven Alcantara dropped his men’s -68kg quarterfinal clash against Ali Reza Abbasi, 2-1.
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