Pencak silat, karate add bronze medals to haul

THE PHILIPPINES added bronze medals to its total medal haul at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia on Monday with pencak silat and karate athletes winding up on the podium.

Cherry Mae Regalado nabbed the bronze in the women’s single division of pencak silat while karatedo athlete Junna Tsukii placed third in the women’s -50kg event.

Ms. Regalado finished with 444 points to finish third in her event behind Puspa Arumsari of host Indonesia (467) and Singapore’s Nurzuhairah Mohammad Yazid (445).

The bronze was the third for the Philippines from the sport of pencak silat, a traditional Indonesian martial arts form, after those by teammates Jeffrey Rhey Loon and Dines Dumaan on Sunday.

Ms. Tsukii, meanwhile, gave the first medal from karate after toppling Thailand’s Paweena Raksachart, 4-1, in the women’s -50kg semifinal.

The two bronze medals padded the Philippines’ total haul to three gold and 12 bronze medals, good for 16th place in the medal standings as of 6:30 p.m. on Monday.

IMPRESSED WITH SU

Meanwhile in Jakarta, Su Bingtian’s Asian Games gold in the 100 meters on Sunday came as little surprise to many, including athletics boss Sebastian Coe, long admirer of the pint-sized Chinese sprinter.

The 28-year-old streaked to victory in a competition record of 9.92 seconds in Jakarta at the weekend, missing the continental record by the tiniest of fractions.

Su edged out Nigeriaborn Qatari Tosin Ogunode — younger brother of Femi Ogunode, with whom the Chinese star shares the continental best of 9.91 — on a night when six African-born athletes bagged six track and field golds at Asia’s showcase sports event.

Ryota Yamagata — part of the 4x100m Japan team that took silver behind Usain Bolt’s Jamaica at the 2016 Rio Olympics, took bronze, underlining Coe’s confidence in the future of Asian sprinting.

“You could argue Japan and China are two of the most improved athletics nations over the last six or seven years,” the Briton said in an interview with news agencies.

“For me it’s very clear — they’re making very good progress. If we’d been sitting here a decade ago, talking about potential here for a China athlete to run 9.8, you’d have probably taken quite long odds on that.”

Coe, president of track and field’s governing International Association of Athletics Federation, pointed to China’s willingness to embrace overseas coaches after years of fostering suspicion of state-sponsored doping.

“If you look at the Chinese federation, they’ve been quite global,” said Coe. “They’ve recognised there are gaps in their own coaching structures and said ‘Hey, let’s bring that talent to the table.’

“It’s a pragmatic approach. There’s been a greater clarity around the importance of coaching.” — Michael Angelo

S. Murillo with reports from AFP