Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) – Filipino taekwondo jin Arven Alcantara ended his Tokyo Olympics aspirations on Friday after bowing to Uzbekistan’s Ulugbek Rashitov, 9-23, in the 2021 Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament at Amman, Jordan.
Rashitov, who had to beat Mongolia’s Achitkhuugiin Natsagdorj in the round-of-16 before facing Alcantara in the quarterfinals, delivered a solid head kick to the Filipino to establish an early 3-0 lead at the end of the first round.
In the second round, Alcantara changed his strategy to be more aggressive by scoring a couple of punches and a sensational head kick to snatch the lead at 5-4.
Rashitov, the 2019 Asian juniors champion in the men’s 55-kg division, showed his experience in the third round by displaying three successful head kicks to widen his gap over Alcantara.
The 2019 SEA Games silver medalist can only land a couple of body shots in the end as he failed to capitalize on his automatic quarterfinals berth.
The three other Filipino taekwondo jins will fight for the Tokyo Olympics tickets tomorrow. They are 2016 Rio veteran Kirstie Alora, and 2019 SEA Games gold medalists Pauline Lopez and Kurt Barbosa.
The top two taekwondo jins per division will clinch slots in the Tokyo Games, slated from July 24-27.
