THE Philippines’ Pauline Lopez saw her bid for a ticket to Tokyo vanish with a 10-21 defeat to Lebanon’s Laetitia Aoun in the women’s -57 kg. quarterfinals of the Asian Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament in Amman, Jordan yesterday.

After an abbreviated 22-0 win over Syria’s Aya Aljrayhe in the Round of 16, Lopez failed to sustain her strong start as Aoun, a bronze medalist in the 2018 Asian Games, took control of the second round (11-6) and never looked back.

Lopez, a former Asian Championship gold medalist, also missed the Olympic bus in the same tournament held in Manila five years ago.

Kurt Barbosa, meanwhile, beat Mongolia’s Molom Tumenbayar, 40-33, in the quarterfinals to arrange a semis duel with Jordan’s Zaid Al-Halawani in the men’s -58 kg division. The former UAAP Rookie-MVP from National University needs one more win to make it to the Olympics.

In her first match, Lopez needed just four minutes to overwhelm Aljrayhe.

A head kick opened the scoring for Lopez in the first round, and the former UAAP Rookie of the Year winner from Ateneo was simply dominating, racing a 14-0 lead.

The contest was put beyond recall midway into the second round when Lopez unleashed a vicious kick that went straight into the Syrian’s face.

In the 2016 edition, Lopez lost in the semifinals, falling short of qualifying to the Rio Olympics.

Kirstie Elaine Alora, in a late match, seeks to clinch her second consecutive Olympic appearance against Uzbekistan’s Svetlana Osipova in the semifinals of the women’s +67 kg. category.

On Friday, Arven Alcantara suffered an early exit following a 9-23 loss to Uzbekistan’s Ulygbek Rashitov in the men’s -68 kg. quarterfinals.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Theodore P. Jurado