LONDON — Team Philippines sent two  athletes to the battlefronts on Monday in Day 4 of the 30th Olympic Games, and all it got in return was a terrible urgh.
In a day to forget, Paul Brian Rosario floundered in the second of three rounds in the qualifying stage of the men’s skeet under windy conditions, finishing with an aggregate of 66 points to land 32nd in a field of 36 and end his first foray into the biggest stage of ‘em all in disappointment at the Royal Artillery barracks range.
As unsuccessful was weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who missed her three attempts in the clean and jerk of the 58-kilogram division and crashed out in a painful defeat that left her in tears at the Excel arena.
There are still two rounds left in the qualifying, but Rosario is too far behind to take a crack at the sixth and last championship slot even if he produces two perfect 25s on the final day of this event expected to be  dominated again by the so-called “usual winners.”
For Rosario to make it, 30 of the shooters should while away their time at Hyde Park or pay London landmarks a visit instead of showing up at the old range on Tuesday. Otherwise, it’s all over for this young man.
“I am terribly disappointed to shoot that 19. Hindi naging smooth ang movement ko sa mid-second round. Parang nanigas,” coach Gay Corral quoted Rosario as saying.    
With Team Philippines officials headed by Philippine Olympic Committee president Peping Cojuangco,  shooting head Mikee Romero and IOC representative to the Philippines Frank Elizalde watching, Rosario got off to a good start  with a 22 using his old but reliable Perazzi shotgun only to come up with a poor 19 in the next round that did him in.
Not even a perfect 25 in the third round — a first by a Filipino in Olympic history according to Romero — could put Brian within striking distance of the leaders headed by the steady Vincent Hancock of the United States, who posted a 74-point total built around a 25 in the first and third rounds.
A Malabon businessman who’s into his first Olympics, Rosario was doing well and looking good in the early going of the second until he missed three straight targets in a sudden drop in form that left him sitting on a bench for a long time and pondering of what went wrong after the round.
“It was the first time that he shot a 19 since we arrived here for the training camp,” said Corral, adding the windy weather was not much of a problem for the bespectacled father of a nine-year-old daughter. “We trained under the same condition during the camp.”
“He was shooting well until that collapse in the mid second. It’s good he was perfect in the last. That’s somehow lessened his frustration. He’s still young and I know he’ll recover from this,” Romero said.
In another low moment for her, Diaz fumbled her three attempts  in the clean and jerk as she went for 118 kilos. She lifted 92 in her first try in the snatch, but missed as she attempted for 97 kgs in her second try.