RP clings to 4th with 4 golds

KUALA LUMPUR (Via Globe Telecoms) — Three tracksters and the unsinkable cue artists knocked in four gold medals, modest by any standards but good enough for now, as the Philippines braced for a down-to-the-wire finish with rival Vietnam in the fight for fourth place going into the last two days of the 21st Southeast Asian Games last night.

Elma Muros, 34, won the heptathlon in an emotional farewell performance in the SEA Games, and two others — Eduardo Buenavista and John Lozada, the rising stars of Philippine athletics — ruled the 5,000m and 800m, respectively, to hike athletics’ gold medal haul to six after three days of competitions.

In the billiards hall just a few steps away from the national track and field stadium, two Filipinos fought it out for the gold, and it was the turn of Warren Kiamco to upset billiards great Efren "Bata" Reyes in the 15-ball event, 5-4.

The Filipino cagers have also virtually won the gold with their fourth straight victory, outclassing Singapore, 83-59. They will play the Malaysians tonight to formalize their title-retention romp.

But the RP Ladies lost their gold medal bid as they succumbed to the powerhouse Thailand side, 61-77.

Before the golds in athletics, the Philippines was trailing Vietnam in the overall standings. The Philippines and Vietnam were locked in their battle for fourth place as of the latest medal tally late last night, with the Philippines ahead of Vietnam only in the number of silver medals. With the four golds, the Philippines seized fourth again with 27-57-49 (gold-silver-bronze) haul as against Vietnam's 26-29-54.

Also up the leaderboard, Thailand and Malaysia found themselves at loggerheads for the overall lead after Thailand gained five more gold medals in athletics. They had the same number of gold medals (86) at the latest count.

Some of the final events in judo, pencak silat and athletics were still being played late last night.

"I hope we can hold on to fourth place," said Philippine Olympic Committee president Celso Dayrit, who watched both the athletics and billiards competitions. "If we can do it, it’s an achievement."

Outside the four golds, the Philippines had to settle for the silver medals in bowling, cycling, athletics, judo and sailing, and bronze medals in aquatics and squash.

Malaysia’s Lai Kin Ngo played one of her best games as she bounced back to take the gold over Liza del Rosario in a gripping matchup whose outcome became clear only in the last frame of the women’s masters event.

Del Rosario held the lead until the 15th frame, losing the lead after the Malaysian made a rally to overhaul her lead of 36 pinfalls to win by a mere five pinfalls for Malaysia’s seventh gold in the sport. The Malaysian scored 3,544 and Del Rosario 3,539.

Marites Bibit finished second in the 24 km cross country event in her showdown with Vietnamese defending champion Nguyen Huyen..

Eusebio Quinones finished second to 1999 champion Thai Suraijit Jirojwong in the 36km cross-country event in the mountain bike competitions.

The 4x400 me relay team also finished second, while Dandy Gallinero missed the gold in the javelin throw.

Of the 12 events in yachting, Philippines earned one medal, a silver in the international 470 men’s team competition, since the yachting association had to put only a token participation in yachting, where the Nationals failed to meet the bronze medal criteria of the POC.

Myanmar and Malaysia bagged four golds each, Thailand two and Singapore and Indonesia one each.

The biggest blow to the Philippines’ gold medal hunt was the golfers’ semifinal loss in team competitions. The men lost to Malaysia, 0-3, and the women to Thailand, 0-2, to end their campaign with one gold, won by Juvic Pagunsan, against two bronze medals.

Olympian Zardo Domenios’ best effort was good only for the bronze in the 3m springboard diving event. The squash team also went home with the bronze.

The judokas, competing in Johore, a five-hour drive from here, won a silver and a bronze through Aris Lucero (half-lightweight) and Marie Malasan (lightweight)

The Philippines failed to win a medal in water polo where it took the silver in1999, in team competitions in men’s and women’s archery both won by Indonesia, as well as in badminton, equestrian, rhythmic gymnastics, lawn bowls, sepak takraw, table tennis and lawn tennis.