AGAYAN de Oro City — Siargao surfer Jayuard Alciso delivered the Philippines a bronze medal in surfing’s Asian Games debut, beating fellow Filipino Toby Espejon in an all-Filipino battle for third place on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Alciso scored 11.64 points against Espejon’s 8.90 at Pacific Long Beach to claim bronze in the men’s shortboard competition.
He built his winning score with two strong early rides, scoring 6.67 on his first wave and 4.97 on his second.
The medal became the Philippines’ 11th bronze of the 20th Asian Games.
Alciso’s run to bronze
A native of Siargao, one of the country’s best-known surfing destinations, Alciso opened his campaign by topping Round 1, Heat 8 with 9.20 points.
He then defeated India’s Sivaraj Babu, 11.50-7.83, in Round 3 before beating South Korea’s Kanoa Heejae Palmiano, 10.76-7.24, in the quarterfinals.
His run for gold ended in the semifinals, where Indonesia’s Made Pajar Ariyana I edged him, 13.60-12.37.
That sent Alciso to the bronze-medal match against Espejon, creating an all-Filipino fight for the podium.
Espejon had also advanced strongly through the competition, winning his opening heat with 10.33 points.
He followed with victories over Malaysia’s Lucas Santiago Wehle, 11.83-6.34, and India’s Kishore Kumar Anbarasu, 8.53-5.37.
Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi stopped Espejon’s gold-medal bid in the semifinals with an 18.33-5.83 victory.
The result set up the Filipino showdown that ended with Alciso taking bronze in surfing’s first official appearance at the Asian Games.
