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BEIJING: Tae kwon do jin Mary Antoinette Rivero is
probably feeling the weight of 90 million-plus Filipinos on her
broad shoulders right now.
With Tshomlee Go joining the
ranks of fallen Filipino medal hopefuls on Wednesday, the
21-year-old Rivero is the only remaining Pinoy who could salvage the
embattled Philippine team from coming home with a big, fat zero for
the third straight Olympic Games.
Lacking ferocity and fire from
the start, Go took a 0-1 loss at the hands of Ryan Carneli of
Australia, becoming the 13th member of the 15-man Filipino squad to
go down in defeat in yet another frustrating day at the Beijing
University of Science and Technology.
The Filipino’s hopes of making
it to the repechage—a French word referring to that stage that
features first-round losers aspiring for a bronze medal. But that
hope faded when Thailand’s Chutchawal Khawlaor beat Carneli, 0-2,
in a quarterfinal bout.
Had the Australian won, Go would
still have to wait and hope for another win by Carneli to gain a
spot in the repechage where he would have to meet losers coming from
the upper half of the 58-kilogram, 16-man division.
But Carneli lost.
So everything now depends on
Rivero, who will face Croatian Sandra Saric in one of today’s
highlight bouts in a group filled with stars led by two-time world
champion Hwang Kyung Seon of South Korea.
Her match with Saric is scheduled
at 10 a.m., preceding an expected one-sided match between Hwang and
Sheikha Almaktoum of the United Arab Emirates in the lower half of
the draw in the women’s 67-kilogram division.
Assuming both Rivero and Hwang
make it past their round of 16 bouts, they will mix it up in a
quarterfinal round meeting at 3:30 p.m.
No go for Go
Go fought apparently without the
aggressiveness of a battle-tested veteran who was competing in his
second Olympic Games. He trailed the Australian 0-2 entering the
third round and failed to turn the tide even when the young fighter
from Down Under was assessed a penalty in the second round for
repeatedly backing away.
In one of those very rare times
that he attacked furiously, Go let go of a roundhouse kick that
grazed Carneli’s chin, something that the four judges did not find
worthy of a point.
The first round ended with
neither fighter winning a point.
On several occasions, American
referee Leon Preston signaled the two athletes to move and fight.
And when they did 55 seconds into the second round, Carneli got the
better of a big exchange, scoring with a 45-degree offensive kick
with 1:10 left, and then with a 45-degree defensive strike to the
body as the clock wound down.
“Sa ganyang labanan, kailangan
aggressive ka specially if you are behind [In that kind of fight,
you need to be aggressive when you’re behind],” said Peping
Cojuangco, Philippine Olympic Committee president.
“Tingin ko medyo nagkulang sa
aggressiveness si Go [In my view, Go lacked aggressiveness],” he
added
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