BANGKOK — Unheralded Jeffrey Figueroa pulled a surprise when he captured Team Philippines’ first gold medal in the taekwondo competition of the 1st Asian Martial Arts Games Tuesday at the Indoor Stadium Huamark here.

The 23-year old Figueroa beat Rezai Hasan of Afghanistan, 10-7, in the finals of the men’s bantamweight category, ending the country’s gold medal drought in this inaugural event. Records also show that it was the country’s first gold in taekwondo in the Asian level.

Marlon Avenido and Karla Jane Alava settled for silver and bronze medals to put Team Philippines in the ninth spot of this 41-nation tourney with a total haul of one gold, two silver and two bronze medals behind leaders Korea, Kazakhstan and Japan.

Avenido bowed to Gyu Jin Lee of Korea, 2-5, to yield the gold medal in the men’s welterweight category while Alava lost to Iwen Kuan of Taipei, 0-1, to settle for the bronze medal in the women’s bantamweight category.

Camille Manalo wrapped up Team Philippines’ campaign in taekwondo with a 0-7 loss to Hua Zhang of China in the quarterfinals of the women’s lightweight category.

Aside from Manalo, John Paul Lizardo (men’s finweight), Alex Briones (men’s heavyweight) and Crizobelle

Vargas (women’s finweight) also bombed out right on their first matches.

Figueroa’s golden finish, however, save the day for the fancies jins.

After a victory over Muaadh Najiahmed of Yemen, 7-3, in the quarterfinals, Figueroa beat hometown bet and 2007 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Nattapong Tewawetchapong, 3-2, to book a championship slot.

“It was my first time to face him, we were clueless on what strategy to use,” said Figueroa, a long-time member of the RP training pool. "He was so aggressive. I had a hard time scoring and defending."

“But I hope this victory would give me a slot in the national team. It was my motivation. I really wanted to win, hoping that a gold medal here would be my ticket to the (national) team.”