Rhezie Aragon cops silver in taekwondo

Rhezie Aragon fought the good fight, but in the end, fell to Mariska Halinda of Indonesia, 4-9, in the gold medal
match of the women’s 53kg division in taekwondo in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games Monday at Kuala Lumpur
Convention Centre Hall 1.
With only three competitors in the weight class, Aragon was instantly slotted in the Finals while Halinda had to
fight off Malaysian bet Jasmin Nabilla to earn the right to face the Filipina jin.

Unfortunately for the 21-year-old Aragon, she fought on the defensive early against her Indonesian foe,
struggling to recover from a 3-6 deficit in the second round as she settled for a silver medal in the women’s
bantamweight division.

Despite the defeat, Aragon’s was the second silver medal bagged by the Philippine taekwondo team,
increasing the sport’s haul to seven medals.

Atenean bags gold in World U taekwondo

MANILA, Philippines - Francis Aaron Agojo of Ateneo dished out a dominating performance en route to
winning a gold medal in the 13th World University Taekwondo Championships Tuesday night in Hohhot, Inner
Mongolia, China.

Agojo, a silver medalist in last year’s Southeast Asian Games and Asian Youth Games, beat Turkey’s
Ibrahim Ether Pak by knockout to capture the mint in the kyorugi men’s -54kg hostilities.

On his way to the finals, the jin from Quezon City made shortwork of American Joseph Aguon, 14-2 (win by
point gap) then outlasted Nakagawa Takaya of Japan in sudden death, 2-1.

Ibrahim beat Russian Soslan Baimatov, 10-4, to reach the gold medal match.

The other Pinoy bets fell short in the other divisions in Day 1 of the sparring hostilities.

Korina Paladin of Santo Tomas nipped Russian Mariia Smirkova, 13-6, to advance to the quarterfinals in the
women’s -46kg but absorbed a 2-14 setback to Cyprus bet Irene Pasiouli to bow out of the medal rounds.

Arven Alcantara of National U didn’t go as far in the men’s 63-68kg as he fell to Russian Nikita
Kriveichenko in the first round, 14-17.

French Raihu Chin, Taiwanese Chia Yen Lin and Korean Cho Hueiun also pulled off golden performances for
their respective countries.

Chin defeated Egyptian Ahmed Ghofran, 11-8, for the men’s 63-68kg crown while Chia turned back
Hungarian Edin Brigis Kotsis, 5-2, for the women’s 53-57kg plum, and Cho scored a KO over Taiwanese
Ming Yen Huang, for the women’s -46kg tiara.
Filipino Taekwondo jins bag gold, silver, bronze medals at Asian Meet

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam—Filipino poomsae jins won one gold, two silver and one bronze medals, as the
Philippines finished fourth overall in the second Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships held here at Phu
Tho Stadium recently.

Women’s Team stalwarts Camille Alarilla, Rani Ortega and Janice Lagman power their way to a silver finish.
Jean Pierre Sabido, Galilee Tinaya and Marvin Gabriel dominated the most difficult category of the meet
(Men’s Team Under-29), by turning in rock-solid and technically dramatic performances of the Pyongwon and
Sipjin forms in the finals. The two forms, which contain some of the most physically demanding blackbelt
movements in Taekwondo Poomsae, served as the Philippine team’s ticket to glory as they turned back
powerhouse rivals Vietnam, Chinese Taipei and Iran in a thrilling, down-the-wire showdown.

But former world champions Rani Ortega, Janice Lagman and Camille Alarilla fell short in the Women’s Team
Under-29 category. They settled for second place behind the precision juggernaut of Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi
Thu Ngan, Chau Tuyet Van and Nguyen Thi Xuan Linh in the final canto of the women’s battle royale.
Edrick Galing, Ernesto Guzman and Glenn Lava took an emotional silver medal finish in the Men’s Team Over-
29 category, behind Iran. Galing, a national team veteran and martial arts coach at Planet Infinity Club in
Quezon City, described the experience as “a dream come true, considering that I had to team up with very
good younger players like Glen and Buboy (Ernesto), and keep up with them physically and mentally.”
Guzman made it to the podium one more time as he snagged a bronze medal in the men’s individual Under-39
competition, which was eventually won by Korean Sung-Hey Kim.
Philippine mixed pair Marvin Gabriel and Shaneen Sia display grace under pressure in the finals.
The Koreans swept all six individual events to emerge the top nation in the Asian Taekwondo Poomsae
Championships.
Host Vietnam (two golds, five silvers and three bronzes) finished second overall, followed by iran (2-3-6), the
Philippines (1-2-1) then Thailand (1-1-1).

ASIAN GAMES: Sepak Takraw bets split opening day assignments

Pinoy sepak takraw bets split their first two games in Day 1 of the competition.

JAKARTA --- The Philippines split its two assignments on the first day of sepak takraw action in men’s team
double preliminaries at the Ranau Hall, Jakabaring Sports City in Sumatra.

The nine-man team opened its campaign on a high note by scoring a marathon 2-1 victory (19-21, 21-18, 17-
21, 21-18, 21-18, 21-14, 21-12) over Vietnam.

But the Filipinos failed to sustain their momentum late in the night and bowed to host Indonesia, 1-2 (6-21, 9-
21, 25-23, 22-20) in the Group A tussle.

With an even 1-1 win-loss card, the Philippines need to beat Japan (1-1) on Friday to advance to the
quarterfinals.

“Ganyan talaga sa laro, minsan may halong swerte, minsan wala. Maganda ang start natin against Vietnamese
pero kinapos lang tayo sa Indonesians,” coach Hector Memarion said.
PH bags silver medal in men’s sepak takraw

KUALA LUMPUR — The Philippines disputed the 29th Southeast Asian Games’ first gold medal against the host
Malaysia Wednesday but in the end had to settle for silver for its first medal of the meet.

John Jeffrey Morcillos, Johnjohn Bobier, Rhemwil Catana, Ronsited Gabayeron, Joeart Jumawan, Alvin Pangan second
place in sepak takraw men’s chinlone (linking) event at Stadium Titiwangsa here.

The host, playing to the court that included its sports minister, piled up 391 total points after two rounds in the finals to
claim the gold medal.

The Philippines, seeing action for the first time in chin lone, garnered 271.
“It should have been a close fight,” said head coach Metodio Suico Jr., who cited the umpire’s questionable calls in the
match.

Team manager Virginia Tanchangco said the country fielded in a developmental team for chin lone — they will have one
more shot in the chine lone non-repetition event Thursday.

“We are really expected to perform in regu (match), because we are just first-timers here,” said Tanchangco of the sepak
team that could only win a silver two years ago in Singapore.
The team trained for two months in Iloilo City and it paid off in terms of developing camaraderie, according to Suico.

Regie Reznan Pabriga and John Carlo Lee served as team reserves.

Central Luzon clinches first win in sepak takraw elementary boys

Central Luzon clinches their first win on their first game during the knock out elimination round against Negros Island
Region

ANTIQUE, Philippines – First fight, first triumph.

Soaring high with fiery attacks, Central Luzon captured the lead in the eliminations round after winning their first game 21-
13, 12-21, 21-12 and took the chance left, forcing Negros Island Region to book an early vacation in the Palarong
Pambansa 2017 on Thursday, April 27.

Reigning supreme as the captain of his team, John Gabriel Saddi poured 7 points out of 16 in the final set to bomb a 4-0
run, 17-11, securing their spot on the top.

"Last year kasi hindi kami nakapasok kaya sana magtuloy-tuloy na 'to," Central Luzon coach Marites Luzano stated. (Last
year, we weren’t able to qualify so I am hoping that this current streak will continue.)

Down by one point, the Pampanga-based striker, Saddi, fueled up two consecutive headings to spark a 5-0 tilt, 10-6,
which forced NIR to call a time out in 5:20 minute mark of the last set.

Grade 6 student Riko Yan Korea then came on strong with 5 points, while one point from Denmark Pagala sealed the
deal.

Negros-based athletes refused to give up and kept the hope alive as Gemrick Catalonia unleashed 7 points up in the
second set to drop a 3-0, ending with an outstanding 21-12, tying 1-1.

But Negros came up short as they gave 10 easy points from their error and faults, kissing their championship dream
goodbye.

"Sayang lang na dumayo kami tapos unang laban talo na," said 12 year-old Catalonia. (It’s such a waste that we traveled
this far only to lose on the first fight.)