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BEIJING—Taekwondo
jin Tshomlee Go crashed out in the first round, just
like boxer Harry Tañamor before him.
Pitted against Australia’s Ryan Carneli,
who fought as if he came to the Chinese capital not to
compete but merely to participate, Go was, to the
surprise of everyone on what is left of Team
Philippines here, hardly visible in the men’s -58 kg
preliminary clash and yielded, 0-1—a second massive blow
to the country’s gold medal hopes.
Go and coaches Ramon “Rocky” Samson and
Korean Kim Hong Sik did not talk to the handful Filipino
reporters who waited for them at the Mixed Zone (where
interviews are permitted) of the Beijing University of
Science and Technology Gymnasium.
The Philippine media, the Solar Sports crew included,
had to be contented with what Team Philippine officials
had observed inside the room assigned to the Philippines
at the athletes’ section of the gymnasium.
“He cried,” said team doctor Alejando
Pineda, who was a whisper away along with orthopedic
doctor Sonny Odulio, just in case their services are
needed, of Go. “He was very sad and disappointed.”
Song Hung Chon, the Korean national
taekwondo association vice president who introduced the
sport to the Philippines more than three decades ago and
who now acts and speaks like a true Filipino, rushed to
Go and consoled him. A pat on the back appeared to have
made Go feel better, according to Pineda.
Mary Antoinette Rivero, the last woman
standing for the Philippines’ diminishing hopes for a
gold medal here, was also in the room, consoling Go.
When the mood somewhat cleared, the
coaching staff, with Go and Rivero, reviewed the
Filipino jin’s fight on tape. There was not much
conversation, though, only a few analyses of what went
wrong here, and what should have been done there.
Carneli was not among the four favorites
listed in an information journal the World Taekwondo
Federation provided the media here. But the 23-year-old
Australian, who lost to Go in the Manchester (England)
Olympic qualifying tournament, 4-5, last year, merely
had to sweat it out and deliver just a few kicks to get
the job done.
The first round went nil-nil as both
fighters obviously measured each other up. There were
four exchanges, but all of them were mild. Referee Leon
Preston of the United States even had to urge the
fighters to mix it up.
About three-dozen Filipino residents
here came to see Go campaign. They waved the national
colors at the uppermost section of the gymnasium. They
cheered Go and chanted “Pilipinas! Laban! Pinas! Pinas!
Pinas!”
But that seemed to have little effect on
Go.
The fighters turned more aggressive,
thanks to Preston’s urging, in the second round. But the
Aussie got the better end of two clashes and scored
two-consecutive points, the second at the 1:10 mark of
the two-minute round.
Go, 27, mounted a rally, but the Aussie
was wily. The Filipino unleashed what looked like an axe
kick, but missed. His foot simply grazed his opponent’s
face, not enough to merit two points (for head kicks)
from the four judges.
The third saw Go rallying desperately.
He fought aggressively this time, but his kicks just
could not hit the right mark. He saw a chance—when the
referee deducted a point from the Australian for
repeatedly backing away—but there were only 18 seconds
left in the match.
The fight ended at noon. The repechage
gave Go the slightest of all chances for a shot at the
bronze medal. But after four agonizing hours, Go’s
chance of a medal vanished entirely.
Carneli, displaying the same listless
stance in his second-round fight, lost 0-2 to Thai
Chutchawat Khawlaor—a 4-2 winner over Benin’s Marie Jean
Moloise Ogoudjobi in his first fight—later in the
afternoon.
Go and his coaches did not make
themselves available for interview, but not Robert
Aventajado, president of the national taekwondo
association, who blamed poor judging for Go’s loss.
“We disagree with the outcome, but we
have to accept it. Tshomlee’s kicks connected, but were
not seen by the judges. We are still proud of our
fighter and we thank all those who prayed for Tshomlee,”
he said.
Jose Cojuangco Jr., president of the
Philippine Olympic Committee, seemed to have seen it
otherwise.
“What we need in competitions like this
is an aggressive fighter,” he told reporters. “Tshomlee
should have been aggressive, especially in the first
round.”
Cojuangco is aware the Philippines’
hopes for its first Olympic gold medal have extremely
slimmed down to one bet. He could only bow and shake his
head, munching peanuts to perhaps shake his
disappointment off.
But he suddenly beamed.
“Let’s make it like what Mikee did,” he
told reporters.
Mikee is Mikee Cojuangco, his daughter,
who saved the Philippine campaign in the 2002 Asian
Games in Busan, South Korea.
When everyone thought all hopes for a
gold medal had disappeared, Cojuangco mightily rode her
horse to the gold medal, the country’s one and only in
those Games. The equestrian competition was the last
event on the last day of the Busan program, which was
staged just hours before the closing ceremonies.
Rivero could make that happen again. But
the 20-year-old Ateneo student is expected to face
certain difficulty against the Croatian Sandra Saric,
who is listed as one of four favorites in the division.
Her fight is set at 10 a.m. Friday.
Rivero could only boast of second places
in the 2008 Asian qualifications and Asian
championships. Saric, 24, finished second in the 2003
WTF world championships and was third in the world
qualification in Manchester and 2005 and 2007 world
championships.
Cojuangco has followed Rivero’s career
and is confident she could pull off a surprise. “She is
s fighter. She flies, she soars, she shuffles,” he said.
Fifteen Filipinos qualified for these
Games, but only three—Go, Rivero and Tañamor—had the
realistic chances of medaling. Tañamor was the first to
fall last week when he was booted out right in his first
fight by Ghana’s Manyo Plange in boxing’s
light-flyweight division. |
