Arnel Mandal secured the country’s only gold medal in the 31st Southeast Asian Games’ wushu sanda competitions with a 2-0 sweep of Indonesia’s Laksmana Pandu Pratama in the men’s minus-56 kg, Sunday at the Cầu Giấy Sporting Hall in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Mandal earlier edged out Thailand Thongchai Huanak in the deciding round, 2-1, to advance into the gold medal bout.
This came as a breather as all the other male sanda fighters from the country Gideon Padua, Francis Solis, and Clement Tabugara bowed out in the semifinals and thus finished with the bronzes.
Padua lost his bout against Truong Giang Bui of Vietnam, 0-2, and Solis also absorbed a 0-2 defeat to Van Chuong Truong, also of Vietnam.
Tabugara only competed in a single round in a loss to hometown bet Van Tai Nguyen.
Divine Wally, the lone female fighter, lost to another hometown bet in Thi Chinh Nguyen in the deciding third round.
