Three more golds bring young divers to the top

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – Four gold medals and still counting.

The Philippines swept all three gold medals staked yesterday to seize the overall lead in the diving competition of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games at the Trace Aquatics Center here.

Zardo Domenios and Niño Carog sparked the gold rush by ruling the 3m springboard synchronized over a strong field that includes world No. 12 Yeoh Ken Nee and Rossharisham Roslam of Malaysia and defending champion Suchart Pichi and Meerit Insawang of Thailand.

Sheila Mae Perez, 20, followed it up by copping for herself a second gold medal with an emphatic victory in the 3m springboard, a day after clinching the gold with Ceseil Domenios in the 3m springboard synchronized.

So dominant was Perez that she registered a score of 514.23 or more than 53 points ahead of eventual silver medal winner Hoang Thranh Tra of Vietnam (461.46). Leong Mun Yee of Malaysia settled for the bronze with 456.64.

Rexel Ryan Fabriga and teener Kevin Kong capped RP’s amazing second day performance by snatching the gold medal with a come-from-behind victory in the 10m platform synchronized.

Trailing Bryan Nickson and James Sandayud of Malaysia going into the final two attempts, Fabriga and Kong, 14, came through with a difficult 1 1/2 twisting, 2 1/2 summersault pike position in their fourth attempt that was enough to steal the win.

Nickson and Sandayud had a chance to book the gold in the final attempt by duplicating the Filipino pair’s fourth round stunt but fell short by a point to finish with 299.94 or a hairline off the latter’s 300.78.

Thais Sareerapat Pimsamsee and Suchart Pichi finished with a bronze with 272.70.

RP thus hiked its total to four gold medals to go with a bronze, leaving Malaysia behind with two golds, a silver and three bronze medals. Thailand and Vietnam were at third and fourth with two silver, two bronze medals and two silver medals, respectively.

The Nationals also doubled their performance in Vietnam where they went home with two gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

"We’re happy we surpassed our last performance in Vietnam," said RP team coach Rommel Kong. "But we’re not stopping here, we’ll shoot for more in the last two days."

Kong, a student at Arellano High School, however, turned out the biggest revelation as he pulled through and proved his critics wrong after he curiously replaced Jaime Asok almost a year before the Games.

Asok, who was Fabriga’s original partner when they took the 10-m platform synchronized gold in Vietnam, was booted out of the team due to disciplinary reasons.

"Kevin (Kong) showed he deserves to be in the team with this victory," said Rommel Kong, Kevin’s uncle.

"The kid really worked hard for this despite the hardships he experienced in training."

Domenios and Carog, both natives of Davao, tallied 299.40 points to take home their first ever SEAG gold medal after pairing in the 2003 Hanoi Games for a bronze.