By El Amigo
MANILA — Marie June Adriano gave Team Philippines another reason to celebrate Wednesday, winning the bronze medal in the women’s kumite -50kg event at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.
Adriano dominated Chinese Taipei’s Ya-chi Chung, 10-3, in the third-place match at Toyohashi Gymnasium, lifting the country’s medal tally to five.
The road to the podium was anything but easy.
Adriano edged Cambodia’s Srey Phea Chonn, 4-3, in the round of 16 and followed it with a convincing 4-0 triumph over South Korea’s Yang Yewon.
A spot in the gold-medal match, however, slipped away when Hong Kong’s Tsang Yee Ting escaped with a 5-4 semifinal victory.
With the bronze on the line, Adriano produced her strongest performance of the tournament. She pulled away from Chung to post a 10-3 victory and secure her maiden Asian Games medal.
The result also strengthened the Philippines’ showing in karate. Adriano’s bronze came after Samantha Veguillas, Ysabelle Arrogante and Rebecca Cyril Torres also finished third in the women’s team kata.
The Philippines now has five medals: Saclag’s silver in men’s traditional MMA -65kg, plus four bronzes won by Alvarez in men’s traditional MMA -77kg, the women’s soft tennis team of Catindig, Zoleta, Sanosa, Salazar and Paas, the women’s karate kata trio of Veguillas, Arrogante and Torres, and Adriano in women’s individual kumite -50kg.
In men’s 3×3 basketball, Gilas Pilipinas completed a perfect Pool A campaign after beating Kazakhstan, 21-15, at Kinjo Futo Station Square Venue.
Cabañero led the Filipinos with seven points and three rebounds, while Dungo scored six with three boards. Pablo finished with five points and Buenaflor added three.
Kazakhstan caught Gilas flat early and moved ahead, 4-1. The Filipinos responded behind Cabañero and Buenaflor, eventually taking a 13-9 lead.
Kazakhstan made one last push to cut the deficit to 13-12, but Gilas regained its composure and scored eight of the next 11 points to put the game away.
The victory improved the Philippines to 3-0 in Pool A, following wins over Mongolia and Sri Lanka, and sent Gilas directly into the quarterfinals.
