MANILA – Filipina judoka Kiyomi Watanabe settled for a silver medal in the judo event of the 2018 Asian Games on Thursday night at the Jakarta Convention Center in Indonesia.
Watanabe fell short of giving the Philippines its fifth gold medal after an ippon defeat at the hands of Nami Nabekura of Japan in the championship match of the women’s -63kg.
It was a historic feat still for Watanabe, who placed seventh during the 2014 edition in Incheon, South Korea, as it was the country’s first Asiad judo medal since the sport was included in 1986.
On her way to the finals, the 22-year-old Cebu City native defeated Gankhaich Bold of Mongolia in the semifinals and Orapin Senatham of Thailand in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile Mariya Takahashi fell short of securing at least a bronze medal after losing to Naranjargal Tsend-Ayush of Mongolia in the -70kg repechage. Takahashi also lost to Seongyeon Kim of Korea in the quarterfinals.
Failing to reach the quarterfinals were Keisei Nakano, who lost to Barimanlou Mohammad of Iran in the men’s -73kg, and Megumi Kurayoshi, who was defeated by Po Sum Leung of Hong Kong in women’s -57kg.
Filipino Eumir Felix Marcial assured another boxing medal after beating the South Korean Jinjea Kim in the middleweight quarterfinals on Wednesday night at the Jakarta International Expo.
Marcial, along with fellow boxing semifinalists Carlo Paalam and Roger Ladon, will have a chance to upgrade their medal color in their respective matches on Friday.
Marcial will fight Israil Madrimov of Uzbekistan, Ladon will face Tondee Yuttapong of Thailand in flyweight, while Paalam will tangle with Amit of India in light flyweight.
The Philippines remained winless in athletics. The group of Anferee Lopena, Eric Shaun Cray, Clinton Kingsley Bautista, and Trentom Beram failed to qualify in the 4x100m relay.
Ernest John Obiena finished seventh in men’s pole vault while Filipina-American Kristina Marie Knott had a similar finish in women’s 200m dash. Mark Harry Diones placed 12th in men’s triple jump./PN
