MANILA – The Philippines got two gold medals from the women’s golf team led by Yuka Saso to hike its total gold haul to three in the 2018 Asian Games on Sunday in Indonesia.
The 17-year-old Saso delivered the Filipina golfers’ first gold medal when she topped the women’s individual event in come-from-behind fashion at the Pondok Indah Golf & Country Club.
Saso bounced back from a double bogey on the par-3 17th with an eagle on the 18th hole to clinch the gold medal at six-under par 66. China’s Liu Wenbo captured the silver while Filipina Bianca Pagdanganan took home the bronze.
Saso, Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go went on to capture the women’s team gold medal with a combined score of 22-504. Korean squad clinched the silver (19-557) while China had the bronze medal (18-554).
The Philippines failed to keep in step with host Indonesia for a 20-25, 20-25, 26-24, 22-25 defeat in women’s volleyball. Even with the loss, the Filipina spikers will still advance to the quarterfinals.
Capiznon Dines Dumaan and Jefferson Rey Loon, meanwhile, settled for bronze after losing their semifinals match in men’s pencak silat on Sunday morning at the Padepokan.
Dumaan bowed to Muhammad Faizul M Nasir of Malaysia 5-0 in the semifinals of men’s 50-55kg while Loon also faltered at the hands of Vietnamese Ngoc Toan Nguyen 5-0 in men’s 60-65kg.
Aklanon Cherry May Regalado reached the medal round of pencak silat’s form event after finishing on joint second with Vietnam’s Vuong Thi Binh on scores of 447 in Group A of the women’s single preliminary round.
Precious Jade Borre, meanwhile, missed the medal round of the women’s Class C 55-60kg pencak silat after bowing to Vietnam’s Hoang Thi Loan 5-0 in the quarterfinals.
Asian champions Annie Ramirez and Apryl Jessica Eppinger failed to reach the medal rounds after losing their first matches in their maiden appearance in jiu-jitsu’s Newaza Women’s -62kg class.
Carlos Pena failed to continue his impressive run in the Newaza Men’s -62kg after suffering a 10-0 defeat at the hands of Calvin Chua of Singapore in the knockout round of 16.
Negrense boxer James Melos Palicte and Mario Fernandez joined fellow Filipino boxers Joel Bacho and Nesthy Petecio in early elimination after faltering in their round-of-32 matches./PN
