The trio of Mark Ragay, Mark Polo and Vincent Ventura dished out a worthy performance late Monday night in the men’s Taolu group competition to hand Team Philippines its lone gold medal at the 16th World Wushu Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
The Filipino bets in the men’s Duilian event outpointed Brunei’s Majdurano Joel Bin, Majallah Sain, and Abel Wee Yuen Lim, who settled for the silver medal.
Spain’s Nestor Urzainqui Milla, Aidan Pose Martinez, and Victor de la Plaza Schineper placed third.
On the same day, Jennifer Kilapio, Arnel Mandal, and Clemente Tabugara bagged a runner-up finish in the sanda competitions to add to the silver medal captured by Agatha Wong in women’s taijiquan.
Rounding out the Philippines’ medal production was the bronze medal by Russel Diaz in the men’s 48kg sanda.
Kilapio lost to Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Lan in the women’s 48kg final; Mandal bowed to China’s Tang Sishuo in the men’s 52kg final and Tabugara yielded to Guo Wei, also from China, in the men’s 65kg Sanda final.
A day earlier, Wong delivered Team Philippines’ first podium finish with a silver medal in the women’s taijiquan.
Wong submitted the same score as gold medal winner Singapore’s Zeanne Zhue Ning. They both tallied 9. 776, but Ning’s execution had a higher level of difficulty in her routine to claim the top honors.
It was yet another silver medal finish for Wong, who also emerged runner-up in the recent World Combat Games in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Falling by the wayside were Xander Alipio, who failed to advance following a quarterfinal loss to a Vietnamese foe in the men’s 60kg category, and Carlos Baylon, who got derailed on his tracks in the men’s 56kg class.
Meanwhile, the Philippines may become the host of the world tournament in 2027 after its bid got a big boost following the last-minute withdrawal of another candidate.
It will only need to iron out some details to get the formal announcement from the World Federation.