NAGOYA, Japan — The Philippines added another bronze medal to its Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games haul on Wednesday as Marie June Adriano delivered a breakthrough performance in women’s karate, while the country’s athletes continued to chase their first gold medal of the Games.
Adriano, a 22-year-old Asian Games debutant from Llanera, Nueva Ecija, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Ya-chi Chung, 10-3, to capture bronze in the women’s under-50-kilogram kumite event.
The Polytechnic University of the Philippines Human Kinetics student reached the semifinals after defeating Cambodia’s Srey Phea Chonn, 4-3, and South Korea’s Yang Yewon, 4-0. She narrowly missed the final after losing to Hong Kong’s Tsang Yee Ting, 5-4.
The bronze became an emotional milestone for Adriano, who said the pressure of competing in her first Asian Games made the achievement particularly meaningful.
Karate Pilipinas also added another bronze through Rebecca Cyril Torres, Samantha Emmanuelle Veguillas and Ysabielle Arrogante, who secured third place in women’s team kata.
The growing medal haul came on a day when several other Philippine athletes faced difficult assignments.
The Gilas Pilipinas men’s 3×3 basketball team remained unbeaten in the group stage, sweeping all three of its matches to advance to the quarterfinals. The team defeated Kazakhstan, 21-15, in its final group-stage game.
In boxing, Junmilardo Ogayre kept the Philippine campaign moving after the earlier exit of Paris Olympics bronze medalist Aira Villegas.
Carlos Yulo and the Philippine men’s artistic gymnastics team, meanwhile, finished sixth in the team event. The result improved on their seventh-place finish in qualifying, although China, Japan and Chinese Taipei dominated the competition.
For Yulo, the team event also served as preparation for his individual floor exercise campaign. The Filipino Olympic champion was scheduled to compete for another Asian Games gold in the apparatus where he won Olympic and world championship titles.
Fencing also produced several setbacks. Paris Olympian Samantha Catantan lost to South Korea’s Park Jihee, 15-10, in the women’s individual epee quarterfinals. Catantan’s younger sister, Janna, was eliminated by Singapore’s Maxine Jie Xin Wong in the women’s individual foil.
Christian Jhester Concepcion and Eunice Daniel Villanueva also exited their respective individual sabre competitions.
Swimming star Kayla Sanchez sat out the women’s 100-meter backstroke heats as the Philippine team chose to preserve her energy for the 50-meter freestyle, where national coach Ryan Arabejo said she had a strong opportunity to contend for gold.
At the end of Wednesday’s competition, the Philippines stood 24th in the medal table with one silver and four bronze medals in the 37-nation Games. China led the standings with 47 gold medals, followed by Japan with 15 and South Korea with eight.
With several medal opportunities still ahead, the Philippine campaign now enters another crucial stretch — and the search for the country’s first gold remains the biggest storyline.
