CHENGDU, China — Two athletes made a big splash at the Sancha Lake Arena, just as Rudzma Abubakar introduced herself at the heart of this megacity as action in the 2025 World Games turned a new level on Friday here.

Raph Trinidad was just as confident from his flag-bearer duties on Thursday night’s opening ceremonies to his stunt-filled ride in cable wakeboarding, riding the waters confidently and scoring 80.20 points to finish atop his heat and place third among the 10 qualifiers to the semifinals set Saturday at the same venue.

Max Milde and Germany (83 points) and Loic Deschaux of France (80.40) topped the qualification round.

In wake surfing, Ordonez did just enough to make it to the semis, tallying 36.67 points to join eight other participants in the next stage.

He needs to do more to impress the judges and make it to the finals, with elite athletes Jett Lambert of USA (83.75) and BM Jomboon of Thailand (80) way ahead during the heats.

Trinidad, Ordonez, and the rest of the 47-strong Philippine delegation is supported by Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and the Philippine Sports Commission headed by Chairman Patrick Gregorio.

Over at the Sichuan Gymnasium, located right at the atrium of the bustling Chengdu metropolis, Abubakar made noise and punched her ticket to the semifinals with a 30-27 win over the taller Anastasiia Mykhailenko of Ukraine.

So powerful of her strikes that she cut the Ukrainian’s right eyebrow in the second round which obviously gained the Filipino the momentum she needed to win all three rounds.

Though the first-match jitters seemed like a non-factor for the striker, Abubakar, who has Chef de Mission Stephen Arapoc by her side, has little room for celebration as she is battling China’s Xiaohui Lui in the next round set at 6 p.m. Saturday.

In the morning sessions, wushu bet Agatha Wong placed eighth out of the nine participants in the women’s taolu taijiquan at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center.

Wong, an unstoppable force in the Southeast Asian Games, earned 9.160 points in the bare hands event.

She could improve her total and give herself a shot at a podium finish when she performs taijijian or sword in the evening contest set at 7:50 p.m. Thursday evening.

While this Chinese city turns the World Games fever on, the Filipino contingent slowly gets the manpower it needs to fire up its medal drive in the days to come.

The dragon boat team competes in the open 8-seater 2000-meter final at the Xinglong Lake Hubin Arena on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

With John James Pelagio serving as steerer, the power and tenacity should come from Roger Masbate, Alfred Reformina, John Rey Barca, Jim Vincent Arsenio, Robert Pantaleon, Roda Daba, Joanna Barca, and Rosalyn Esguerra.

Returning to the court is the men’s floorball team against Sweden at 11:45 a.m. at the Xindu Xiangcheng Sports Centre.