By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Ilonggo wushu bet Arnel Mandal delivered the country’s first silver medal after falling short in the men’s -56 kilogram finals of the 19th Asian Games at the XSG Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China yesterday.

The Iloilo City-native Mandal was defeated by homecourt bet Haidong Jiang via WPD or winner-by-point difference in their championship game.

Mandal reached the gold medal round following his 2-0 victory over Avazbek Amanbekov of Kyrgyzstan in the semifinals on Wednesday night, September 27.

Meanwhile, Gideon Fred Padua settled for a bronze medal finish in the men’s 60kg category after he decided to forfeit his scheduled semifinal game against Iran’s Shoja Panahigelehkolaei due to an injury.

Wushu Federation Philippines, in a statement, said they decided not to allow Padua to fight last night to minimize the risk of further injuring his nose, which he suffered in the quarterfinals against Turkmenistan’s Agajumageldi Yazymov on Tuesday night, September 26.

Clemente Tabugara, Jr. also ended with a bronze medal after bowing to Indonesia’s Samuel Marbun, 2-0, in the semifinals round of the men’s -65kg category.

Meanwhile, favored Filipino taekwondo athletes Kirstie Elaine Alora and Samuel Morrison suffered shock exits in their respective round-of-16 matches yesterday.

Alora failed to move past the quarterfinals round after a 7-2 loss to Anahita Tavakoli of Iran in the women’s +67kg, while Morrison bowed to Arian Salimi of Iran, 15-9, in the men’s +80kg category.

In boxing, Filipino John Nobel Marvin moved on to the quarterfinals round of the men’s -92kg after scoring a second round stoppage win over Rabin Thapa of Nepal./ASC, WDJ