Pinay Power Fuels Asian Games Medal Flurry

What do Hidilyn Diaz, Pauline Lopez, Agatha Wong, Divine Wally, Juvenile Crisostomo, Rinna Babanto, and Janna Oliva all have in common?

They are all Pinay medal winners in the 2018 Asian Games...and are repsonible for 5 of our 6 medals to date (August 24, 2018).

Olympian weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, of course, gave us our first (but hopefully, not our last) gold medal while the rest gave us bronze medals in taekwondo and wushu.

Not to say, of course, that our men's teams have not been doing well. In fact,  our men's poomsae team composed of Dustin Mella, Jeordan Dominguez and Rodolfo Reyes, Jr are also on the board with a bronze medal but for the most part, it is our Pinay athletes who have fared better in the competitions.

We still have more chances at medals courtesy of our ladies as Meggie Ochoa and Kaila Napolis (jiu jit su) for podium finishes this afternoon. Let's wish our ladies luck and hope that the power Pinays keep shining golden!

SINGAPORE SEA GAMES: Wushu Men's Team Wins Silver in Duel Event

 

Analysis: Thought our boys performance was good enough for gold but with Team Singapore also putting on a strong routine, it was inevitable for the hometown team to win. The close score (SG's 9.72 vs the Philippines 9.70) shows just how well the boys performed (to watch their performance at 14:20). The Philippine team showcased good speed, power, grace and theatrics, and it's hard to say in which area they were outperformed in. Not to say, of course, the Signaporeans didn't deserve the gold, just that both squad gave gold-worthy performances and that if the SEA Games was in Manila, the Philippine team would have gone away with the gold medal.

Congratulations to Norlence Catolico, John Chan, and Daniel Parantac!

Video courtesy of Sinapore Sports on Youtube. 

SINGAPORE SEA GAMES: Women's Duel Event

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is real! These girls can really put on a fight!

Analysis: The Philippine duo put on a good show put came in last (for their performance, go to the 7:30 mark). To my inexperienced eye, the pair had grace and speed in spades but what they lacked was power and precision. Several times, they made moves that should have made contact but didn't, or that made a faint clink. By the end, one of them was obviously slowing down her pace to allow her partner to catch up. If I noticed that (and again, I am not a very experienced wushu watcher). then I'm pretty sure the judges noticed that too.

Still, these girls have made us proud. Salamat at mabuhay kayo, Kariza Chan and Natasha Enriquez.

Video courtesy of Singapore Sports on Youtube.