Philippines pads lead

The Philippines carted away 11 more gold medals to pad its lead, but defending champion Vietnam suddenly emerged as the serious threat to the host country's championship bid after Day 2 of the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games scattered at different venues nationwide.

Banking on its 23 gold,10 silver, and 15 bronze medals as of 9 pm yesterday, the Philippines sits momentarily atop the medal board, but Vietnam, host of the previous Games, made a dramatic leap from sixth to second place with a two-day output of 14 golds, 11 silvers, and 15 bronzes.

Thailand jumped to third with seven golds, 12 silvers, and 17 bronzes, while Malaysia dropped to fourth a 7-10-8 gold-silver-bronze medal haul. Indonesia is at fifth with 6-9-9 record.

The RP Nationals scooped most of their golds with four in athletics event at the Rizal track oval. Overall in athletic, RP led the medal with 5-4-3 gold-silver-bronze haul.

Mercedita Manipol ruled the 10,000m run at sunrise, while Rene Herrera topped the 800m run at dusk.

In between these two shining moments for the Philippines, javelin thrower Danilo Fresnido and long jumper Henry Dagmil both made even bigger feats. Fresnido easily defended his javelin throw title, while Dagmil leapt to prominence with a record-breaking victory in long jump.

At the jampacked Cuneta Astrodome, the Philippine Taekwondo Team showered the graces at the climax of yesterday's quest for honors as the Filipino jins swept all four golds in the competition kickoff.

Tsomlee Go started the streak, hugging the limelight with his 2-1 triumph over Vietnamese Vu Anh Tuan to capture the men's bantamweight crown.

Esther Marie Singson followed suit as she turned back Juana Wangsa Putri of Indonesia, 4-2, to clinch the women's bantamweight plum and her very first SEA Games gold.

Donald David Geisler won the hearts of the huge Filipino crowd as he defended his throne by outsmarting Patiwat Thongsalap of Thailand, 7-6, for the third gold in the men's lightweight class.

Mary Antoinette Rivero completed the sweep following her 5-1 triumph over Voppy Trismawanty of Indonesia for the women's lightweight gold. With the impressive show of the RP jins, Philippine Taekwondo president Robert Aventajado believes that the team could exceed his earlier prediction of bagging eight of the 16 golds at stake.

Back at the Rizal track, the day's actions were about to end when the Philippines suffered a sorry loss on Eduardo Buenavista's shocking defeat in the 10,000m run. Another bitter setback was the one suffered by John Lozada in the 800m run.

Buenavista and Lozada were leading their races towards the end only to be overtaken at the finish by the eventual gold-medal winners in their respective events to the chagrin of their cheering fans.

Just like Sunday, the Philippines started the day on a winning note with Manipol, a 4-foot-11 San Agustin, Romblon, pulling off an upset in the women's 10,000m run.

"I believed I'm now at the peak of my career so I gave everything to win the gold. At 24, I thought it's now or never for me," said Manipol, who has improved on her bronze-medal finish in Vietnam in 2003.

Manipol also said a big motivation was the cash incentive she's to receive which she intends to use for the construction of a house for her father. She said she had helped build a house for her sister early this year from a P94,000 prize he got from a Korean meet.

Herrera fashioned out his triumphant run in the 3000m steeplechase under gathering dusk right before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who made a sudden appearance in the venue accompanied by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza.

The Guimaras Island native came out strong and won practically by a mile but finished way off the SEAG record and his personal best minus a worthy challenger.

Dagmil pushed himself in his second try in the long jump and set a new games mark of 7.81m, surpassing the old record of 7.79 Mohd Zaki Sadri made in the 1997 Jakarta Games.

A member of the national team since 2000, Dagmil was a poor sixth placer in the 2003 Vietnam Games due to a left hamstring injury. His personal best in the event was 7.83m he made in last year's RP Open.

Fresnido was hardly challenged in his successful title defense in javelin throw, submitting a 70.20m result as against the 66.09m of his closest rival Sanya Buathong of Thailand.

The RP karatekas donated two golds courtesy of Gretchen Malalad and Maria Marna Pabillore (see separate story), while the tandem of Nino Carog and Zardo Domenios won the gold in the men's 3M synchronized springboard event in diving. The other two golds won by RP came from wushu and the men's lawn tennis team. (with Philippine Star News Service)