Wally wins PH's 5th bronze medal in Asian Games
JAKARTA – Cordillera pride Divine Masadao Wally lost her semifinal bout in women's sanda -52kg category of the wushu competition but gave the Philippines its fifth bronze medal in the 18th Asian Games here on Wednesday night.
Wally, who hails from Sadanga, Mountain Province, bowed to Elaheh Samiroumi Mansoryan of Iran, 12, in their match at the Jakarta International Expo Center in Kemayoran.
Mansoryan, who defeated Devi Sanathol Yumnam of India, 2-0, in the quarterfinal round, will face the winner between Li Yueyao of China and Chen Weiting of Chinese Taipei.
Wally prevailed over Mimi Yoysaykham of Laos, 2-0, in the roundof-16. She also hurdled Selviah Pertiwi of Indonesia, 2-0, in the quarterfinals.
Li beat Siriluk Kaewcha, 1-0, while Chen downed Zarina Rafique of Pakistan, 20, in the quarterfinals.
The gold medal round will be played on Thursday.
In 2016, Wally retained the 48kg title in the 8th Sanda World Cup which was held in Xi’an City, the capital of Shaanxi province in central-northwest China. She also topped her event in the 13th World Wushu Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Before the World Cup, Wally won the gold in 9th Asian Wushu Championships in Chinese Taipei two years ago. She was also a silver medalist in the 7th Asian Junior Championships and the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar.
Sanda is a combat sport which originated from Chinese kung fu that combines punching, kicking and wrestling.