Following his impressive finish to give the Philippines its first silver medal in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Ilonggo wushu bet Arnel Mandal will be the first millionaire among the country’s delegations.

Mandal, a native of Barangay Calaparan in Arevalo, Iloilo City, was defeated by homecourt bet Haidong Jiang via WPD or winner by point difference in the men’s -56 kilogram finals on Thursday at the XSG Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China. However, he is set to receive a P1 million bonus from the Philippines Sports Commission, as mandated by Republic Act 10699.

It was not an easy silver medal finish for the 27-year-old Ilonggo athlete as he was forced to go up to a heavier class and still got a medal.

“It was do or die. I poured everything. I came looking for a lucky punch, but it never came,’’ said Mandal, whose next stop is the World Sanda Championship in Fort Worth, Texas in November.

To recall, Mandal reached the gold medal round following his 2-0 victory over Avazbek Amanbekov of Kyrgyzstan in the semifinals on Wednesday evening.

“Masayang-masaya ako at nakapagbigay uli ako ng karangalan sa ating bansa,” Mandal said. “Lahat naman ay ginawa ko pero hindi lang po ako pinalad,” he added.

Meanwhile, a gold medal winner in the grandest sporting spectacle in this part of the globe shall receive ₱2 million with the bronze medalist taking a P400,000.

Meanwhile, Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena delivered the country’s first gold medal after setting a new Asian Games record, clearing 5.90 in the men’s pole vault.

He shattered the Asian Games record of Japan’s Seito Yamamoto who registered 5.70m in the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018.

Alex Eala, on the other hand, also ended up with a bronze medal in the women’s singles tennis event after bowing to China’s Qinwen Zheng in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.

In boxing, Bacolodnon Riza Pasuit failed to advance to the quarterfinals round of the women’s 57-60 kilogram category after being beaten by Thailand’s Thananya Somnuek.

The country has sent 396 athletes from 40 sports to compete in this year’s continental meet.IMT Sports

Photo by Belle Gregorio/One Sports