TAIPEI—Filipino taekwondo jins fell one after the other in the Taipei Universiade on Wednesday.
Erson Macatangay did his best but still fell short against Marat Niiazov of Kyrgyzstan, 16-21, in an exciting round of 32 showdown in the men’s- 58kg event of men’s taekwondo.
The 19-year-old Macatangay had his finest moment in the third round where he outpointed Niiazov, 9-3, including seven decisive points earned in attack.
Another Filipino bet, Gabriel Joshua Ancheta, lost 2-29 to Boris Krasnov of Russia in the round of 32 of the men’s -68kg
Peebles Jerkin Pintucan, who drew a first-round bye, will meet Muhammet Vaglar of Turkey in the second round of the men’s -63kg.
Two more taekwondo stars—Glenn Harold Salgado in the men’s +87kg and Ann Janeth Garcia in the women’s -53kg—have yet to see action.
Taekwondo produced the country’s first-ever medal—a silver—in the Universiade courtesy of Far Eastern University star Samuel Thonas Morrison in Shenzhen, China in 2011.
The other Filipino athletes supported by the Federation of School Spirts Association of the Philippines and sponsored by San Miguel Corp. also wore long faces at the end of another long and busy day.
Jingky Obanon was the first to take the plunge in athletics and expectedly, first to return home at the Athletes’ Village with a sad story to tell.
Obanon, the 21-year-old student of Rizal Technological University-Mandaluyong, clocked 1:04.43 in one of five qualifying heats and failed to advance in the women’s 400m.
Sean Michael Kaufman of the University of the Philippines and Yuhei Go of Xavier University-Cagayan de Oro also both failed to qualify in the men’s 100m.
Kaufman clocked 11.18 in the first round, Heat 3/10.
Topping the heat with surprising ease is Le Shon Jabre Collins of the United States, who timed 10.30.
The 23-year-old Collins is one of mainstays of the star-studded University of Houston team being coached here by Olympic champions Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell.
Go, on the other hand, finished in 11.61 in Heat 2/10.
Rogil Pablo finished ninth out of 13 participants in the men’s triple jump event with 14.54 on his second attempt, way behind top qualifier Yasser Mohammed Triki of Algeria with 16.24.
The 19-year-old campaigner from De La Salle-College of St. Benilde, however, did better than the entries from South Africa, Macau, Oman and Zambia.
Over at the Taipei University Arena, Alliah Saliendra of Technological University of the Philippines and Carmenrose Matabuena of University of the East both failed to advance in the women’s 100m butterfly.
The 18-year-old Saliendra timed 1:30.80, 10.35 behind Avice Michal Meya of Uganda in Heat 1.
Matabuena finished with 1:14. 27 in Heat 2 dominated by Daniela Cristin Reyes of Chile with a time of 1:05.33.
Martin Jacob Pupos of Diliman College also failed to advance in the men’s 100m freestyle with a time of 57.44, way behind the 53.09 of Sizhuang Lin of Taipei.