Tshomlee books ticket to Beijing Olympics

Tshomlee Go

The Philippines' flyweight bet Tshomlee Go went through the eye of a needle and survived a pair of sudden-death thrillers to book a ticket to Beijing at the World Olympic Taekwondo Qualifying Games at the Manchester Evening News (MEN) Arena.

Go, 26, claimed third place in the 49 kilogram division after beating Egypt's Tamer Salah Bayoumi – the 2004 Athens Olympic bronze medalist – in his sixth match of the 48-man, knockout eliminations. It was a grueling grind for the University of Sto. Tomas education graduate who started out like a house on fire in the morning, hacking out a 4-1 decision over Yemen's Akram Ahmed Ahmed Abdullah, and finished with almost an empty gas tank late at night.

Go got a break when he won his second assignment by default as neither Libya's Abdulrouf Mohamed Gerwash nor Iraq's Ahmed Kasim Kadim showed up because of visa problems. Then, he went up against Denmark's Philip Reyes, born in Copenhagen to Filipino migrants. The match went down to the wire and Go advanced via a sudden death kick-off.

Next for Go was Thailand's Chutchawal Khawlaor, the World Cup and Asian champion. In a tight contest, Go pulled off a hairline 2-1 win with a kick to the torso in the last second.

In the semifinals, Go was overwhelmed by Chinese-Taipei's Mu Yen Chu, the 2004 Athens Olympic gold medalist who breezed to a 3-0 lead in the first round and increased the gap to 5-0 before the match was called off on the mandatory seven-point rule at 7-0 in the third.

Go said booking an Olympic ticket here was tougher than making it as the only Filipino survivor at the World Qualifying Games in Paris in 2003. He won the bronze in Paris.