GUANGZHOU — The Philippines won two of three fights in taekwondo, but suffered a double black eye in billiards halfway through the fifth day of the 16th Asian Games Wednesday.

Rookies Samuel Morrison and Pauline Lopez cruised to the next round in their respective weight divisions in taekwondo Morrison, who towers at five-foot-11, mauled Dan Bahadur Airie of Nepal, 15-5, in the men’s under 74 kilogram class while Lopez, the country’s youngest athlete at 14, edged Laila Hussaini of Afghanistan, 1-0, in the women’s under 46 kilogram division.

However, Jyra Marie Lizardo lost to Malaysian Elaine Teo, 6-3, in the women’s under 49 kg division.

Morrison and Lopez were set to face quarterfinal opponents in the afternoon as they press their bids to give the country its first-ever gold medal in taekwondo.

The Filipinos were eliminated in the women’s 8-ball pool singles events following the defeats suffered by Rubilen Amit and Iris Ranola in the Round of 16.

Amit bowed to Phuong Chanh Trung of Vietnam, 2-5 while Ranola fell to Chang Shu Han of Chinese-Taipei by the same score.

Their departure completed the country’s debacle in the event following the early first round exit of Efren “Bata” Reyes and Roberto Gomez Jr. in the men’s side.

Amit and Ranola, however, were set to return later in the day to press their campaign in the women’s 9-ball event.

Also on tap was the men’s 9-ball event with Dennis Orcollo and Warren Kiamco seeing action.

Late Tuesday, boxer Charly Suarez and wushu fighter Mark Eddiva lost their respective bouts and the Smart Gilas national team stumbled against Iran.

But while Eddiva earned the bronze after getting beaten by Chinese Zhang Junyong, Suarez came home empty-handed after dropping a 7-1 verdict to Daniya Tulegenov of Kazakhstan in the first round.

Over at the Huangpu gym, the national cagers were hammered by Asian champion Iran, 48-65.

Smart Gilas returned to the court Wednesday night against Qatar also at the Huangpu gym.

The men’s doubles event in tennis got under way Wednesday with Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey getting a free ride to the second round after their Mongolian opponents withdrew due to medical reasons.

The fancied tandem takes on Japanese Hiroki Kondo and Go Soeda on Friday.

In shooting, veteran Nathaniel “Tac” Padilla wrapped up his campaign with an 11th place finish in the men’s 25-meter standard pistol event.

Padilla, the reigning Southeast Asian Games rapid fire champion, totalled 565 points, 10 points behind South Korean winner Hong Seonghwan.

Swimmer Miguel Molina qualified in the men’s 200-meter individual medley final after finishing fifth in the morning heats.

Rey Bancod, Manila Bulletin