Another PH bronze sparkles

Agatha Wong tallied a total score of 19.36 points to grab the bronze medal in wushu’s toulu event behind Indonesian and Hongkong artists. Her production is PH’s third bronze. JULIUS MANICAD JAKARTA — A young girl with big dreams bravely took the spotlight to award the Philippines its third bronze medal in the 18th Asian Games Monday at the Jakarta International Expo here.

Agatha Wong registered 9.68 points in taijiquan late Sunday before returning the following day to tally another 9.68 points in taijijian (double-edged sword) for a total score of 19.36 points and capture the bronze medal in the women’s taijijian and taijiquan (pushing hands) all-around event in wushu.

With no less than the Indonesian President Joko Widodo in attendance, Wong displayed tremendous grace under pressure to finish behind hometown bet Lindswell Lindswell and Juanita Uen Ying Mok of Hong Kong.

Lindswell, the Best Athlete of the Indonesian Olympic Committee in 2013 who is seeing action in the Asian Games for the last time, tallied a total of 19.50 points for Indonesia’s fourth gold medal while Mok notched 19.42 points to settle for the silver medal.

It was Wong’s first ever medal in the Asian Games, a feat that came as a surprise since she’s coming off an injury that nearly sidelined her for good.

“I came here with no expectations,” said Wong, who performed to the tune of “Heal The World” despite obviously being bothered by tendinitis.

“I underwent therapy after suffering Grade 2 slipped disc and patellar tendonitis on my right knee. So, in preparation for this Asian Games, I had therapy once a week and a week’s rest because I don’t want to aggravate my injury.”

She said her dream of lifting the spirit of her nation helped her overcome the pain and the tough competition from the home bet.

“This is for my family and for my country,” she said. “I think all my sacrifices are worth it.”

Wong’s achievement is a major boost to the national delegation that remains hunting for its first gold medal.

So far, the Filipinos have only three bronze medals following Wong’s feat and those of the men and women’s poomsae squads Sunday.

As of 6 p.m., the Philippines is in 16th spot in the medal tally with mighty China way ahead with 11 gold, five silver and five bronze medals.

Japan and Indonesia are at second and third spots with four gold medals apiece while Iran, Korea and Chinese Taipei each has a pair of mints each.

The Philippines, however, still has a chance to close the day with a bang as Olympian Nestor Colonia of weightlifting and World Cup silver medalist Caloy Yulo of gymnastics are still competing at press time.

Hopes are high on Colonia as he is already on his third Asian Games participation as well as Yulo, who is ranked third in the world in floor exercise.

Also expected to make an impact is Olympian Jasmine Alkhaldi, who tallied 56.38 seconds in the women’s 100m freestyle preliminaries to punch a ticket in the finals later in the day.

While everybody was waiting for the outcome of Colonia’s and Yulo’s events, sorrow gripped the Nationals as gunner Hagen Topacio got off to a cold start and misfired on three of his first five shots to finish sixth in men’s trap event of shooting competition at the Jabakaring Sports Club shooting range in Palembang.

It was a heart-breaking finish, especially since Topacio marched into the finals after finishing fifth in the preliminaries with 118 points.

But he went cold in the finals as his rusty start gave him only 18 points, way inferior than the 48 points of Yang Kunpi of Chinese Taipei, 43 points of Lakshay Lakshay of India and 30 points of Ahn Daemyeong of Korea.