Amaya Cojuangco came tantalizingly close to gold but ultimately settled for silver in the Women’s Compound Individual event of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Archery competition after falling to Indonesia’s Nurisa Dian Ashrifah, 143–144, on Thursday at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square.
It all came down to the final two arrows after the first four ends ended in a 110-all deadlock.
Ashrifah piled on the pressure with a bull’s-eye on her second-to-last arrow, and Cojuangco responded with a nine. Another 10 from the Indonesian was enough to deny the 40-year-old Filipina the gold.
Still, Cojuangco’s silver marked a historic achievement for the Philippines. It is the country’s first silver medal in archery in Asian Games history and its first medal in the sport since the 2014 edition in Incheon, South Korea.
Paul Dela Cruz won the Philippines’ first Asian Games archery medal when he defeated Malaysia’s Zaki Mahazan, 140–139, in the bronze medal match of the Men’s Compound Individual event at the 2014 Games.
Cojuangco advanced to the gold medal match after upsetting South Korea’s Park Jungyoon, 142–141, in the semifinals earlier in the day.
The University of the Philippines alumna came blazing out of the gates with a perfect 30 in the opening end and built on that strong start to book her place in the final.
Her silver also added to a productive day for Philippine athletes, with taekwondo’s poomsae events producing two more medals at the Toyohashi Gymnasium.
Making her Asian Games debut at just 18 years old, Juliana Candelaria claimed silver in the women’s individual poomsae competition after scoring 9.1300 in the gold-medal contest.
South Korea’s Jung Haeun took the gold with 9.3100, while Thailand’s Thitaree Kaewolanwasu settled for bronze with 9.0400.
Candelaria posted a 9.200 score in the recognized poomsae routine before earning 9.060 in the freestyle round.
“Amazing. I feel great about everything,” Candelaria told One Sports. “It’s such an amazing achievement for me. It’s my first Asian Games.
“Super duper thankful to everyone. My family, my coaches, my teammates,” she added.
Coach Rani Ortega credited the entire team for Candelaria’s podium finish, which gave the Philippines its fifth silver medal of the Games.
“Ang mati-take ko na lesson here is live in the moment, kasi what I did in this competition is to enjoy and just be grateful for everything,” Candelaria said.
“Hard work really pays off, with the trust and teamwork of all of us, kaya talaga. Kaya,” Ortega said.
Candelaria’s silver came just hours before Jeus Yape added another medal for the Philippines in the men’s individual poomsae event.
Yape captured bronze after scoring 9.0900, finishing behind South Korea’s Yun Kyusung, who won gold with 9.3800, and Thailand’s Navin Pinthasute, who took silver with 9.2800.
“I’m happy po with my performance. Ginawa ko po ‘yung best ko, ginawa ko po lahat ng makakaya ko,” Yape said.
Coach Jeordan Domingez praised Yape for overcoming the pressure of competing on the Asian stage.
“I’m so happy for him. I know the feeling because we also competed in this competition before, and I’m very happy and proud of Jeus, together with Mika, because they conquered that fear [of pressure],” Domingez said.
Yape, who will also compete in the virtual taekwondo event, is set to see action in the VR round of 16 on Friday at 10 a.m. Manila time.
“Right now I’m happy sa journey ko po, and I’ll just keep moving forward,” Yape said.
With Candelaria and Yape joining Cojuangco on the podium, the Philippines added three more individual medals across archery and taekwondo poomsae on Thursday.
