The Southeast Asian Games gold medalist suffers a heartbreaking defeat against the 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist Laetitia Aoun of Lebanon, 21-10, in the packed women’s -57kgs division that drew 12 athletes. 

However, Lopez uncorked a dominating win over Syria’s Aya Al-Jarayhe, 22-0, in Round of 16 in the openers. 

Coming to the quarterfinals, Lopez dragged early in the opening round but pulled a swift kick right into the Lebanese’s head that paralleled the score, 3-3, after the first two minutes of the bout.

Then, the Filipina champion broke the deadlock by a well-timed kick that connected on the head of Aoun to lead 6-3 at the start of the ensuing round.

However, heading into the final round, the Lebanese jin rallied down the stretch with two consecutive head kicks which saw Aoun racked a commanding 11-6 score.

Aoun became unstoppable in the third round, unleashing a flurry of kicks and a highlight of a body kick that sent Lopez down on the floor in the last minute of the match, 17-10, that made Aoun eventually clinched a seat to the semifinals and a chance for a berth to the Tokyo Games.

With the result, the country is hopeful that Kurt Barbosa in men’s -58 kg and 2016 Rio Olympian Kirstie Alora in women’s +67 kg will deliver for the Philippines that will pave their way to the Tokyo Olympics. 

Barbosa will head against Zaid Al-Halawani of Jordan in the semifinals, where a victory would send him to the Tokyo Games this year while Alora will face Kazakhstan’s Cansel Deniz in a semifinal duel. 

Both taekwondo aces carry the same fate, should they win their respective matches, they will clinch a spot for the Tokyo Games.