JAKARTA -- Arven Alcantara and Baby Jessica Canabal lost their respective matches in the 18th Asian Games taekwondo competitions at the Jakarta Convention Center Plenary Hall here on Thursday.
Alcantara scored a 44-11 victory over Abdulla Alahmed of Bahrain in the men's -68kg category round-of-16. But he was eliminated by South Korea's Lee Daehoon, 5-26, in the next round.
Canabal outplayed Kazakhstan's Ainur Yesbergenova, 18-17, in the women's -49kg category round-of-16. However, she was beaten by Iran'S Nahid Kiyanichandeh, 15-23, in the quarterfinal round.
Alcantara and Canabal, both students from University of the East, are first-timers in the Asian Games.
Alcantata is a silver medalist in the -68kg at the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia. He reached the quarterfinals in the 2018 Asian Championships in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and 2016 Asian Championships in Manila.
Canabal, on the other hand, reached the quarterfinals of the 2018 Asian Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the 2016 World Junior Championships in Burnaby, Canada.
National coach John Paul Lizardo said that despite missing the podium, the players put up a good fight.
"Overall, our players have improved. It just so happened that they faced strong opponents in the quarterfinals," said the athlete-turned-coach Lizardo in an interview after the matches.
Lizardo has competed in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea before joining the coaching staff in 2015. He won the finweight gold (2011) and the silver (2009) in the SEA Games. He also bagged the silver in the Asian Championships in Thailand (2006), Kazakhstan (2010) and Vietnam (2012) as well as the bronze in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and the 2008 Asian Championships in China.
Samuel Thomas Harper Morrison, playing in his second Asian Games, also failed in his medal campaign after losing to South Korea's Lee Hwanjun, 18-27. on Wednesday.
Morrison, who won the bronze (-74kg) in Incheon four years ago, scored a 19-17 victory over Taijikistan's Farkhod Negmativ, 19-17, in the round-of-16 of the men's -80kg category. However, he was overpowered by South Korea's Lee Hwajun, 18-27, in the quarterfinal round.
Morrison, a bronze winner (-74kg) in Incheon four years ago, took a 7-3 lead at the end of the first round. The South Korean rallied in the next round to gain the upperhand at 13-10 and outscored the Filipino in the third round to win the match.
"I tried to adjust when he changed his strategy, but I was not able to concentrate on his long kicks," said explained Morrisson, a back-to-back SEA Games gold medalist in 2015 (-68kg) and 2017 (-74kg).
In the men's -63kg category, Francis Aaron Agojo hurdled Qatar's Ahmed Dghbas, 41-28, in the first round but he fell to Iran's Mirhashen Hosseni in the next round, 2-24.
Agojo won the silver in the -54kg category (2013) and the -58kg category (2015), and the bronze in the -63kg category (2017) in the SEA Games. He also bagged the bronze in the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
Taekwondo has contributed three bronzes in the Philippine medal board courtesy of the men's poomsae team (Dustin Jacob Mella, Jeordan Dominguez and Rodolfo Reyes Jr.), women's poomsae team (Juvenile Faye Crisostomo, Rinna Babanto and Janna Dominique Oliva) and Pauline Louise Lopez (women’s – 57 kgs). (PNA)
