15th Asian Games

DOHA, Qatar—There were several near-misses for the Philippine contingent at the 15th Asian Games. They were the athletes who, by the skin of their teeth, fell short of landing a medal in their respective events.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco called them “true fighters,” the athletes who tried to surpass themselves but failed to make the honor roll of medalists.

“Hindi lang sila basta kasali, lahat gustong lumaban hanggang sa huli (They were not mere participants, they fought to the end), he said.

The Inquirer picked four courageous Filipino performers who went home empty-handed but deserve praise. There might be more near-misses out there but these four truly stand out:

* Danielle Cojuangco was just scores of meters away from the silver medal in equestrian’s jumping event when her mount, Kidit Saint Clair, clipped the last parallel rails. Penalized a few points for the infraction, the pretty, 21-year-old daughter of Negros Rep. Mark Cojuangco finished with 10 penalties and settled for seventh place, just 2 off the silver medalist Joo Jung-hyun of South Korea on board Seven Up 15. Incidentally, it was the same event won by the semi-retired Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski in the 2002 Busan Asiad.

* Cyclist Marites Bitbit thought she had the bronze all sewed up in the women’s points race finals when Thai rider Chanpeng Nontasin took the outside lane and broke free. Bitbit, who had been in third spot with 8 points for most of the race, tried to give chase but failed to wiggle out from her tight group at the back. She lost to the Thai by a mere 3 points.

* Long jumper Henry Dagmil, the brightest and perhaps the only medal hope in track and field, gave his last ounce of strength to achieve a third-best 7.76 meters in his fifth of six attempts. But then came Chinese outsider Chang Xiaoyi, who leapt to a final distance of 7.78m, and Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Faez Bin Marsouq, who snared the bronze with a last-leap 7.85m. Dagmil, a strong second in the qualifying round, wound up fifth.

* Army man Irineo Toribio, decisive 4-0 victor over Inthanousone Vilaysouk of Laos in the round of 16, met his match in Uzbekistan’s Ihtiyor Sharapov in the quarterfinals of -55 kilogram class in karate’s kumite. In a very close, scoreless fight, a dubious Sharapov right punch that supposedly stopped two inches short of Toribio’s chest scored late in the fight. A member of the karate jury said the punch did not score but he was outvoted by his two peers. Toribio lost because of that phantom punch and failed to clinch at least a bronze.

In all, the national contingent captured four gold, six silver and nine bronze medals in the 15-day competition, placing 18th overall among the 45 nations in the fold.

Wushu fighter Rene Catalan capped the RP campaign with an awe-inspiring 2-0 win against Vietnam’s Phan Quoc Vinh for the men’s -52 kilogram gold on Thursday.

Scoring four victories in the last four days of the Games, the Filipinos also drew gold-medal performances from Antonio Gabica in billiards’ 9-ball and from flyweight Violito Payla and bantamweight Joan Tipon in boxing.

The silver medalists from the 227-strong contingent were Gabica in billiards’ 8-ball, Jeffrey De Luna in 9-ball, Marie Antoinette Rivero and Thsomlee Go in taekwondo’s 67 kg and 62 kg classes, respectively, Ma. Marna Pabillore in karate’s women’s -63 kg kumite and Eduard Foolayang in wushu’s 70kg combat.

Bidders in golf and tennis, as well as in boxing, karate and taekwondo, bagged the country’s nine bronze medals.

The medalists were Michael Bibat in men’s individual golf, Cecil Mamiit in singles and Mamiit and Eric Taino in men’s doubles in tennis, flyweight Godfrey Castro and lightweight Genebert Basadre in boxing, karateka Noel Espinosa in men’s individual kata and Manuel Rivero Jr. (67 kg), Kathleen Eunice Alora (47 kg) and Veronica Domingo (63 kg) in taekwondo.