The unforgiving Albania viciously pummeled Japanese foe Aya Shinmoto, 16-1, in the women’s under-51 kg class to set up a clash with the favored hometown bet Ren Cancan, who plodded to a workmanlike 11-7 conquest of Indian world champion Mary Kom Hmangte.
Saludar, working behind cracking jabs, kept Katsuaki Susa of Japan at bay with a steady stream of left leads in the second round to highlight a 13-4 drubbing that catapulted the 23-year-old Filipino into the final of the under-52 kg division.
Saludar’s hurdle to the gold medal— and the lucrative P3-million bonus attached to it—is hometown bet Chang Yong, who needed a late punch in the third round to squeeze past Indian Suranjoy Mayengbam, 6-5, in the other flyweight semifinal bout.
Later in the evening, though, Vic Saludar, Rey’s younger brother, settled for the bronze after dropping a lopsided 1-12 decision to counterpunching Kazakh Birzhan Zhakpov in the under-49 kg (light flyweight) class.
In chess, Grandmasters Wesley So and John Paul Gomez hurdled their untitled rivals to power the Philippines past Kyrgyzstan, 2.5-1.5, and keep the country in second place after seven rounds at the Gunagzhou Chess Institute.
So whipped Alqis Shuturaliev in the top board while Gomez dumped Nurdin Samakov in board two, giving the Philippines 12 points behind unbeaten China (14 points) with two rounds to go in the 25-nation event.
GM Eugene Torre secured the Filipinos’ fourth straight triumph by drawing with Fide Master Semetey Tologontegin in their board four encounter. GM Darwin Laylo got waylaid by Nasyr Akylbekov in board three.
The two automatic silver medals, which assured Albania and Rey Saludar P1 million each under the incentive scheme hatched by telecommunications tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan for the boxing squad, eased the pain of defeat that stung the most among the country’s losses on several fronts Wednesday.
South Korea pounded Smart Gilas Pilipinas on the boards and flaunted a sharper game en route to a 74-66 victory at the Huangpu Gymnasium that eliminated the Filipinos in the quarterfinals of the men’s basketball event.
Oh Sek-eun knocked in 19 points while skipper Kim Sul-chung added 13 as Korea advanced to the semifinals while relegating the Philippines to the classification phase.
The Koreans outrebounded the cold-shooting Filipinos, 36-25, and had more assists, 16-5.
Henry Dagmil and Sheila Mae Perez, the leading figures in their respective sports, also failed in their medal chances.
And Biboy Rivera, the gold medalist in the men’s bowling singles, tripped out of the stepladder format for the men’s masters event. His female counterparts were likewise shown the door.
In karate, Mae Soriano lost her second-round match to Korean Jang So-young in the women’s under-50 kg kumite while men’s kata standout Noel Espinosa lost to Yousef Alharbi of Kuwait, 5-0, to also surrender their medal bids at the Guangdong Gymnasium.
Marna Pabillore, the veteran karateka from Cagayan de Oro City, will now shoulder the brunt of the country’s medal hopes in the sport when she competes in the under-55 kg women’s kumite while Rolando Lagman will also gun for a medal when he competes in the men’s under-67 kg class Thursday.
Lagman drew a first-round bye while Pabillore goes up against tough Malaysian Vathana Gopalasamy.
The Philippines continued to lag behind Southeast Asian nations in the overall medal tally with two gold medals along with two silvers and eight bronzes.
Thailand has nine golds, seven silvers and 28 bronzes to lead the Asean nations. Malaysia (8-14-10), Indonesia (4-9-11) and Singapore (4-6-6) remained ahead of the country.
China continued to rule the medal race with 171 gold medals, 91 silvers and 86 bronzes. South Korea practically sewed up second place with 70 golds, with Japan a far third with 36 victories.
Perez finished with 232.35 points after five dives at the Aoti Aquatics Center to rank eighth in the 1-meter women’s springboard final behind China’s Wu Minxia (326.15). Two Malaysians finished ahead of Perez at third and fourth.
A stone’s throw away at the Aoti Main Stadium, Dagmil also struggled against quality opposition.
Dagmil completed a best leap of 7.52m in the men’s long jump and finished sixth in the event won by South Korean Kim Deokhyeon (8.11).
At the Tianhe bowling center, Rivera stumbled with a 1694 in the second block of the men’s masters and finished out of the stepladder finals after placing seventh with a 3546 aggregate.
Daisy Posadas finished with a 3390 as the best female bowler, landing seventh ahead of Liza del Rosario, who rolled a 3267 total to wind up 14th.
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