Massive siege nets 7 golds

HANOI, Vietnam (Via Globe Telecom) — Team Philippines raised Storm Signal No. 2 in the North and South and Filipino athletes responded with commanding performances, winning seven golds in a massive siege in various fronts yesterday on the third day of the 22nd Southeast Asian Games.

Karateka Gretchen Malalad saw stars when she drew a foul from a lunge punch that bloodied her mouth but became the main star of the beleaguered karatedo team as she beat Malaysian Ai Lee Cua, 4-3, to retain her 60 Kg crown in individual kumite.

Five-foot high Eduardo Buenavista stood tall and mighty against nine rivals as he won the 10,000m run in a SEA Games record time of 29:47.79.

By late afternoon, Rexel Ryan Fabriga of Davao City literally dove his way to the top by winning the 10m platform event in diving, the very first by the Philippines, thanks to the foreign training local divers have undergone with a Chinese coach.

By nightfall, John Baylon, the unbeaten judo champion the last five SEA Games, won a record sixth straight SEAG gold in his event, the +81kg category in judo in Ho Chi Minh in the South, and Gilbert Ramirez made it two in a row for the judokas by winning the 73 kg class.

Also in Ho Chi Minh, the team of GMs Eugene Torre, Joey Antonio and Bong Villamayor and IM Mark Paragua was forced to a five-minute blitz to break a tie in active chess and won, 3-1, for the country’s second gold in chess.

Cue master Lee Van Corteza capped the explosive night for the Filipinos by winning the gold — his second in the Games — in the 8-ball singles in Ho Chi Minh.

And the fancied RP men’s basketball team swamped Thailand, 85-49, late in the night at the start of the competitions even as the RP cagebelles stunned the defending champion Thais, 84-82, in their own side of the contest.

The turn of events in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh was a cause for early celebration for the Philippine camp, as the Filipinos ended the day with a haul of seven golds to go with the two on opening day and two the other day.

With 11-11-25 gold-silver-bronze medal haul, the Philippines swept to fourth overall in the medal tally. Vietnam led with 41-14-17 followed by Thailand with 17-26-28 and Indonesia, 11-13-14.

"We have been monitoring the teams at kung tatama ang reports nila, even 75 golds are achievable," PSC chair Eric Buhain told The STAR in an interview in Ho Chi Minh.

The Philippines was stopped briefly in its tracks by judges, whose whistle blew in favor of the Filipinos’ Vietnamese opponents, giving the hosts a crack at the gold in various events and dropping the Filipinos by the wayside, particulary in contact sports where decisions are subjective.

The gold slipped from the hands of cyclist Victor Espirtu (40K individual time trial), diver Sheila Mae Perez (3m springboard), the rowing team of Nestor Cordova, Mark Anthony Galvez, Rowell Tolentino and Charimel Alastre (lightweight coxless fours) and karateka Jose Mari Pabillore (+80K kumite).

Miguel Molina earned his second silver, this time in the 220m individual medley in swimming.

Rower Benjie Tolentino (single sculls), the pair of Alvin Amposta and Cordova (lighweight double sculls) and shooter Nathanile "Tac" Padilla (rapid fire pistol) earned the bronze.

The Philippines had gold medal chances in boxing aJayson Melligen (64kg), Juanito Magliquian (45Kg) and Roel Laguna (57 kg) advaned to the finals, with Florencio Ferrer (60kg)Joan Tipon (54kg) and Harry Tañamor (48kg) a step closer to the gold medal bouts.