JAKARTA, Indonesia — There’s a lesson in every fall.

And Divine Wally absorbed her lesson painfully.

Stacked against a taller, more aggressive Iranian foe in Elaleh Mansoryan Samiroumi, Wally wound up short as she suffered a 1-2 beating in the semifinals to settle for the bronze medal of the women’s -52kg sanda event in wushu competition of the 18th Asian Games here.
It was such a painful loss for Wally, who ad a strong start only to fade into the third round as the Iranian used her height and reach advantage.

Wally, the world champion three years ago, said the setback is an eye-opener for her, especially after she miscalculated the rest of the field.

“I want to say sorry if I failed you in the semifinals. I gave my best, but I think it wasn’t enough,” she said following her match late Wednesday at the Jakarta International Expo Hall here.

“I think I need better training. We need to train more and push myself to the limit.”
She said what doomed her campaign was when she decided to move up her weight category from 48kg to 52kg.

“When I decided to move up, I realized that it’s rough competing in the 52kg. Unlike in the 48kg, the fighters in the 52kg are taller. Of course, we will be at a disadvantage. If you see, that Iranian was way taller than me,” she said.

“The Asian Games had no 48kg weight class, so I was forced to compete in the 52kg.”

Wally said she would take a breather before competing in the World Cup next year.
She will not compete in the 52 kg anymore.

Instead, she would see action in the 48kg — her natural weight.