US-bred swimmer Miguel Molina and table-tennis player Ernesto Ebuen fall short in their respective events. Molina placed fourth in the 400-m individual medley while lost to Hamad Bu Hijji of Bahrain, 4-1.

ROMY FLORANTE

Fourth place for swimmer Molina

By Jun Lomibao
Editor

DOHA—Miguel Molina was fourth in the men’s 400-meter individual medley of swimming Saturday night, but his performance was never indicative of his chance of a podium finish in the 15th Asian Games.
           
Molina, the Filipino-American winner of three gold medals in last year’s 23rd Southeast Asian Games, clocked four minutes and 28.44 seconds, about seven seconds off the bronze medal-winning time of South Korean Han Kyu Chul (4:21.78).
           
Molina’s time was further way off the 4:16.18 that Japanese Hidemasa Sado booked in bagging the gold ahead of his compatriot Shinya Taniguchi (4:17.91).
           
James Walsh, another half-Filipino who figured in Saturday’s finals of the swimming competitions staged at the state-of-the-art Hamad Aquatic Center of the Sport City here, fared even worse.
           
Walsh touched seventh and last with a 2:01.95 clocking, although he was 7.04 seconds behind the men’s 200-meter butterfly winner Wu Peng, who won for China one of its five gold medals in the sport.
           
Wu clocked 1:54.91, just missing the Asian record of 1:54.56 Japan’s Yamamoto recorded in the Athens Olympics in 2004. Japan had another swimmer on the podium in Takeshi Matsuoda, who was second at 1:55.49.
           
China was dominating with five gold, two silvers and one bronze in the swimming competitions, followed by Japan with one gold, four silvers and two bronze; and Korea with two bronzes.
           
Singapore, a Southeast Asian rival of the Philippines that already has a silver from the women’s 10-meter air rifle team, earned a swimming bronze through Tao Li in the women’s 100-meter butterfly.

Molina swam the men’s 200 meters freestyle heats Sunday but could only earn a substitute’s status with his clocking of 1:54.62. He, however, has to cue behind India’s Virdhabal Khade (1:54.44) in case any of the eight finalists fails to start in the finals set Sunday night.

It was a similar situation for Molina in the 50 meters breaststroke, where he is on standby at ninth place overall after the heats with a 29.44 clocking. Chinese Taipei’s Chiang Hsin Hung topped the heats with 29.34.

The other Filipino entered in the 50 breaststroke, Gerard Bordado, did not get past the heats with his time of 30.15 seconds.