Gold for country, late mom

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT–If German Paz’s late mother were alive today, she would have received a fitting birthday gift from her son who won the gold in the Olympic class in board sailing at the 23rd Southeast Asian Games here.

The five-man jury chaired by a Singaporean threw out the protest filed by his Indonesian rival, Gusti Made Oka Sulaksan, who claimed the Filipino used a different brand of foot strap during the finals played at the Subic Yatch Club last Friday.

The jury ruled that the pair of foot straps did not give Paz an undue advantage over his rivals.

Thus, the 27-year-old Paz romped off with the gold, with Gusti, a three-time Olympian and three-time Asian Games campaigner settling for silver.

Suhaimee Moohammadkasem of Thailand went home with the bronze by besting Goh Thye Hock of Singapore.

Paz immediately dedicated the victory to his mother Francisca, who was to celebrate her birthday today, Dec. 4. "It’s my mother’s birthday tomorrow, I offer this victory to her and the rest of the country," said the pride of Mabini, Batangas.

Paz, recipient of the silver and bronze medals in the 1995 Bangkok and 1997 Jakarta SEA Games, respectively, used a 1.5 meter size sailboard in outsailing Gusti in their closely-contested race.

Paz’s gold medal conquest, plus his townmate Reneric Moreno’s silver medal finish in the formula class and Ridgely Balldares and Rommel Chavez’s silver medal finish in the 470 men division were the bright spots in a day of mixed fortunes for the country’s sailors. –Manny Galvez