Wushu warriors enter final battle

Furious fists and deadly-accurate kicks will hit home for a final time today as the top wushu sanshou fighters line up at ASPIRE Hall 3 in the quest for gold.

China will bring four fighters to the finals scheduled to start at 14:30 on Thursday 14 December. Vietnam and Philippines each have two and the remaining contenders hail from IR Iran and Lao.

Filipino Rene Sornito Catalan meets Phan Quoc Vinh of Vietnam in the -52kg category gold medal bout. Vietnam has won one medal from sanshou at previous Asian Games, while Philippines has six. Neither country has ever taken home a gold medal from sanshou.

Catalan is two-time world champion in the lower -48kg weight category, taking the title in 2003 in Macau, China and again last year in Hanoi, Vietnam.

At Doha 2006, he has proved that fighting a weight division higher has not hampered his style, scoring an easy one round victory over two-time Asian Games bronze medallist Phoukhong Khamsounthone of Lao in the quarterfinals.

Vietnamese opponent Phan, 22, has made it to the finals without conceding a round and will be sure to give Catalan, six years his senior, a tough fight.

Eighteen year-old Li Teng, the heavy-hitter from Hefei, China, may be just 18 and a newcomer to the sanshou international scene but that has proved no obstacle so far as he has powered through the men's -56kg category.

Li has won all his matches in two rounds, including a 13 December bout against 2005 World Championships bronze medallist Kim Jun Yul of Korea. He now comes up against Phoxay Aphailath of Lao in the final.

Aphailath is a silver medallist from the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in Manila, Philippines.

He will not make it easy for Li - indeed which of these finals could be said to be easy? - having already defeated two World Championships bronze medallists to get this far.

The -60kg weight division final sees the Chinese team's other sanshou newcomer, 21 year-old Ma Chao, pitted against Alireza Sahra Neshini, 20, of IR Iran

Ma will need to be fast on his feet to overcome the 10cm height difference between himself and the Iranian. But unlike Ma, Neshini has not had a smooth ride towards the final, losing his first bout against Nguyen Van Tuan of Vietnam.

Zhao Guangyong of China takes on Vietnam's Nguyen Duc Trung in the final of the -65kg weight category.

This will be a replay of the 2005 World Championships final in which Zhao defeated Nguyen to take the title.

Due to his position in the Doha 2006 competition draw, 21 year-old Nguyen went straight to the quarterfinals without having to fight in the round of 16.

He may therefore hold an advantage going into the bout against Zhao, who had to fight one more match, although match sharpness may also work in the Chinese fighter's favour.

Zhao has proved himself a dangerous competitor, scoring a spectacular knock-out in his match against Afghanistan's Habibullah Habibi with a devastating spinning roundhouse kick to the head.

The final match in the -70kg weight category will be between 2005 world champion Xu Yanfei and Filipino Eduard Ayangwa Folayang, a bronze-medallist in the lighter -65kg category at the Asian Games four years ago.

If countryman Rene Sornito Catalan is unsuccessful in the earlier -48kg gold medal bout, Folayang will feel extra pressure to win against Xu to bring home Philippines' first gold medal in sanshou.

He will be looking forward to proving himself against the Chinese in this bout after failing to meet him in the final of the 2005 World Championships, where Folayang took bronze.

Preparations complete, prayers said, and the advice of their coaches heeded - nothing remains but combat. It's time for the Doha 2006 wushu warriors to perform.

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006