Caluag fails to defend Asiad crown, settles for bronze
Filipino rider Daniel Patrick Caluag couldn’t duplicate his gold-medal feat four years ago in Incheon as he ended up settling for bronze medal in the men’s BMX cycling competition of the 2018 Asian Games at the Pulo Mas International BMX Center in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Caluag clocked 35.82 seconds behind gold winner Nagasako Yoshitaku of Japan and silver medalist Gusti Bagus Saputra of Indonesia, who timed in 33.669 and 34.314 seconds, respectively.
“I didn’t get the result I aimed for but I am happy to contribute a medal for the Philippines,” said the 31-year old Caluag.
It was the seventh bronze medal for the Philippines after earning three from tae kwon do, two from wushu and one from ju-jitsu earlier.
Incheon Asian Games gold medalist Daniel Caluag leads two other riders during the 2018 Asian Games BMX competition in Jakarta, Indonesia. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz earned the country’s first gold medal in Indonesia Games.
Caluag’s younger brother, Christopher John, meanwhile, failed to make the finals after bombing out of the three motos (heats).
Sienna Elaine Fines, on the other hand, made the finals but finished fifth in the women’s final topped by China’s Zhang Yaru, Thailand’s Chutikan Kitwanitsathian and Indonesia’s Wiji Lestar.
“So close—only two tads short,” Fines, one of the most popular Filipinas in the Asian Games because of her good and innocent looks, said.
But the Asian Games, she said, gave her the motivation to work harder.
“This has been a great experience. This is the Asian Games and it’s like the Olympics already,” said the 19-year-old who skipped school for the last three years to focus on BMX racing.
Zhang clocked 39.643 to win gold in the cycling discipline that drew a big crowd. Kitwanitsathian finished .736 of a second behind, with Lestar coming in 1.145 seconds later.
Thai Chamavee Kerdmanee finished ahead of Fines.
Regalado qualifies to pencak silat finals
Cherry May Regalado reached the medal round of pencak silat’s form event at the Pencak Silat TMII Hall.
Regalado finished joint second with Vietnam’s Vuong Thi Binh on scores of 447 in Group A of the women’s single preliminary round.
Vilaysack Tunee of Laos topped the round with 455 points, while Malaysia’s Ratius Norshahirah was fourth with 440.
Precious Jade Borre missed the medal round after bowing to Vietnam’s Hoang Thi Loan, 5-0, in the quarterfinals of the women’s Class C 55-60 kgs.
Dines Dumaan and Jefferson Rhey, on the other hand, shoot for guaranteed silver medal as they face separate rivals in the semifinal round of the men’s singles tanding (sparring) on Sunday.
Dumaan faces Malaysian Muhammad Fayzul Nazir in the 55-kg class, and Loon takes on Vietnam’s Nguyen Ngoc Tuan in the men’s 60-65 kgs category.
Dumaan booked a semifinal ticket on Friday by beating India’s Naorem Boynao Singh in the Class B quarterfinals. Loon took his semifinal seat the expense of Kyrgyzstan’s Almazbek Zamirov in Class D.
PH bets falter in dragon boat
The Philippine men’s team was thrown off its rhythm by a false start and wound up fifth in the 200m finals of the dragon boat racing at the Jakabaring Canoeing and Rowing Regatta Course.
With their adrenaline pumping at full throttle, the Filipino paddlers surged ahead early of the six-team field only to be recalled back to the starting line when host Indonesia took off prematurely, losing whatever momentum they might have had in the process.
In the re-start, the Nationals lost steam and checked in fifth in 53.360 seconds.
China won the gold in 50.832, relegating neighboring rival Chinese-Taipei (51.358) to silver and Thailand (52.622) to the bronze at the world-class facility within Jakarbaring Sports City.
WITH ASIAD POOL
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