LADON GETS SHOT AT GOLD MEDAL
Former Olympian Rogen Ladon is lone boxer to have advanced to the final round of the Asian Games The PHL basketball team finishes fifth, ending its bid with 109-55 thrashing of Syria
Former Olympian Rogen Ladon advanced to Men’s flyweight finals and has a chance to give the Philippines its fifth gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games after a convincing unanimous decision win over Thai Yuttapong Tongdee yesterday at Hall C of the Jakarta International Expo in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The 24-year-old Ladon got the nod of all five judges. Three judges had it at 30-27, while the other two saw it closer at 29-28.
Ladon boxed beautifully that forced Tongdee to resort to dirty tatics, taking him down. Ladon suffered a cut above his right eye in the third round but it didn’t stop him from finishing the fight strong.
Ladon takes on Uzbekistan’s Jasurbek Latipov in the flyweight finals. Latipov beat Kyrgyzstan’s Azat Usenaliev, 4-1.
“Wala ng bukas. Buhos na, para sa bayan,” said Ladon, who bowed out in the opening round in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, in a interview posted at the Philippine Sports Commission’s official Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Carlo Paalam bid farewell to his gold medal hopes after losing via a close split decision to India’s Amit in the light flyweight semifinals.
Indonesian judge Hermanto Bagusmunthe scored it 30-29, while Algerian Athmane Lazizi and Uzbek judge Bekjon Yusupov scored had identical scores of 29-28. Chinese judge Guo Zhang and Japanese judge Katsunori Hanabusa scored it 29-28 for the 20-year-old Paalam. He comes home with a bronze medal.
Eumir Felix Marcial also settled for a bronze medal after losing to Uzbek Israil Madrimov by split decision in the middleweight division semifinals.
Iranian judge Farzad Sadeghpour, Turkish judge Yasar Sinar and Sri Lankan judge Wasala Wekadapola scored it 28-27 for Madrimov, while Indonesian judge Bagusmunthe and Romanian judge Ramona Cobzac had it 28-27 for Marcial.
The Philippines finished fifth place in Men’s basketball after a 109-55 thrashing of Syria in the 5th6th Classification game.
Jordan Clarkson once again was the Philippines’ top scorer with 29 points, six rebounds, four assists a steal and a block. Christian Standhardinger also had a huge performance with 27 markers and 15 boards.
Veteran Asi Taulava added 11 points, while Stanley Pringle had 10.
Tarek Aljabi was the lone Syrian in double-digit scoring with 23 points.
On the other hand, Triathletes Marion Mangrobang and Kim Kilgroe finished seventh and ninth in the Women’s triathlon event.
Mangrobang had a time of 2:05:20, while Kilgroe clocked in at 2:06:57. /