Arnel Roa Mandal of the Philippines (blue) beats Van Huong Dinh of Vietnam (red) during the semi final round in SEA Games Wushu Sanda event held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City on December 2, 2019. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File.
Three Filipino fighters are assured of at least bronze medals in the 19th Asian Games after advancing to the semifinals of their respective weight classes in wushu.
Arnel Mandal, Gideon Fred Padua, and Clemente Tabugara Jr. will add to the Philippines' medal haul in Hangzhou, China.
Mandal was a 2-0 winner over Uzbekistan's Jamshidbek Guliboev in the quarterfinals of the men's 56kg class at the XSG Sports Centre. He will face Avazbek Amanbekov of Kyrgyztan on Wednesday for a place in the finals.
Meanwhile, Padua also came away with a 2-0 win over Agajumageldi Yazymov of Turkmenistan in th emen's 60kg. He will face off against Iran's Shoja Panahigelehkolaei in the semifinals also on Wednesday.
Tabugara made it 3-for-3 for Filipino fighters in men's sanda with a 2-0 win over Abdusamat Ashirov of Kazakhstan in the men's 65kg division. He will be up against Samuel Marbun of Indonesia in tomorrow's semis.
The Philippines has so far collected just two bronze medals in the Asian Games, courtesy of Patrick King Perez in men's poomsae and Jones Inso in the men's taijiquan-taijijian all-around of wushu.