Filipino jin Kurt Barbosa has made his place in the national team for the Olympics by defeating Zaid Al-Halawani in the -58kg semifinals of the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Saturday. With this, the Philippines has its ninth Olympian for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.
Barbosa took a come-from-behind win over Al-Halawani, 50-49, also making the record as the first Filipino male taekwondo jin Olympian since Tshomlee Go in 2008.
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However, during the thriller match, the 21-year-old’s Olympic dreams looked far-fetched as Al-Halawani held a 48-43 lead with only 24 ticks left on the clock. But the Jordanian got a penalty to keep Barbosa’s hopes alive.
This was when the jin out of National University connected on three consecutive kicks to the body to complete the comeback.
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Barbosa’s teammate Kirstie Elaine Alora fell short of one win for an Olympic berth when she lost to Svetlana Osipova of Uzbekistan, 5-27. (AW)
