Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Pauline Lopez missed the Tokyo Olympics bus, after losing 21-10 to Lebanon’s Laetitia Aoun in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Asian Taekwondo Olympic Qualification tournament in the capital city of Amman, Jordan on Saturday.

After a 3-3 score in the first round, Lopez broke the deadlock as the Filipina champion connected on the head of Aoun to lead 6-3 at the start of the ensuing round.

But the Lebanese jin rallied down the stretch of the second round with back-to-back kicks for a commanding 11-6 score heading into the final round.

Aoun never looked back as she forced her way through the semifinals with a more impressive performance in the third round, highlighted by a body kick that sent Lopez down on the floor in the last minute of the match 17-10.

Lopez came from a dominating 22-0 victory earlier over Aya Al-Jarayhe of Syria in the Round of 16 of the women’s under 57 kg.

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The result left the Philippines to pin its hopes for Olympic tickets on Kurt Barbosa in men’s -58 kg and Kirstie Alora in women’s +67 kg.

Barbosa is set to face Zaid Al-Halawani of Jordan in the semifinals, where a victory would send him to the Tokyo Games this year.

Alora has the same fate should she beat Kazakhstan’s Cansel Deniz in a semifinal duel. She represented the Philippines in the Rio Olympics back in 2016.

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