HANOI – Rhea May Rifani beat Vietnamese Nguyen Thuy Ngan, 2-1, Wednesday to reach the wushu final in the third Asian Indoor Games at the Trinh Hoai Duc Gymnasium.

Rifani became the third Filipino to fight for the gold medal, joining boxers Annie Albania and Mitchell Martinez who were set to climb the ring later in the day.

A silver medalist in the 2005 World Wushu and gold medalist in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, Rifani overcame the scrappy Vietnamese and a highly-partisan crowd to forge a showdown with Gong Jinlan of China in the 52-kilogram division.

Another wushu fighter, Jennifer Lagilag, has been assured of a bronze medal through the luck of the draw in the 48-kilogram class.

Six sanshou events are being disputed in wushu, one of three martial arts disciplines on tap in the 10-day competition.

“Our sanshou players are ready and we hope we can win gold medal here,” said delegation head and wushu secretary general Julian Camacho.

In muay, Maricel Subang stopped Nongmaithum Sarita Devi of India to advance into the semifinals of the 48-58 kilogram division.

The 24-year-old fighter from Benguet takes on Chanthavong Songka of Laos for a spot in the gold medal bout.

Songka also stopped Aghajan Maha of Iraq.

“The win is a morale boost to my quest for the gold. It really inspired me,” said Subang, a silver medalist in the 2007 SEA meet in Thailand.

Swimming got under way with Miguel Molina clocking the second best time in the preliminaries of the 200-meter individual medley event at the My Dinh National Aquatic sports complex.

Molina, who won four golds in the last SEA Games, timed 2:03.26 in topping the first heat. Taiwan’s Hsu Chi Chieh was fastest in 2:02.61.

The final will be held in the evening.

The 25-year-old Berkeley University graduate just arrived Monday and barely had warmed up for his events.

“It’s difficult because this is an Asian level competition,” said Molina about his chances. “I’ve already met some of the finalists like the swimmers from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Chinese Taipei. I’ll swim the best I can.”

National coach Pinky Brosas was impressed with Molina’s form after arriving from Japan last Monday.

“Pagod pa yung bata,” said Brosas, silver medalist in 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok.

Molina is also set to compete in the 400-meter IM, 50-meter backstroke, and 100-meter freestyle.