VIENTIANE – The Philippine ladies golf team snatched a stirring two-gold sweep, a Filipino made his presence felt in muay thai, a runner retained his title and the billiards team finally came to life halfway through the 25th Southeast Asian Games yesterday.
The six gold medals were the most in a single day for Team Philippines but it was only a small portion of the day’s 45 gold medals, which Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia divided among themselves.
The Philippine contingent’s 18-19-23 gold-silver-bronze medal tally stood three gold medals shy of many-time overall champion Indonesia (21-21-36).
Thailand remained at first with 42-49-48, followed by Vietnam 31-30-38, Singapore 27-18-25 and Malaysia 22-27-35.
“This is a good sign for our overall campaign. We will keep our hopes high on measurable sports and other subjective entries,” said deputy chef de mission Jeff Tamayo.
Chihiro Ikeda took the gold medal in individual play and powered the ladies squad to the team title in a twin victory that finally ended the Thais’ dominance of golf competitions in the SEA Games.
Zaidi Laruan gave the Philippines its first gold medal in the new sport of muay thai with his victory over Laos commercial superstar Vixay Bosuntauy in the 57-60 kg.
Former world champion Ronnie Alcano also produced the breakthrough gold in billiards – at the expense of compatriot Gandy Valle – while Rubilen Amit, the world 10-ball mixed doubles champion, reduced her Indonesian opponent to shreds in winning the gold in the 8-ball singles.
Rene Herrera handily won the 3,000m steeplechase despite a slow time of 9:11.21, a far cry from the 8:54.21 that earned him the gold in 2007.
Mercedita Fetalvero was timed 17.12.09 in the 5,000m race for women for bronze behind Indonesia’s Triyaning (15:56.79) and Nating Naing Win (16:38.02) of Myanmar.
In another heart-breaking day, the national diving team settled for another silver, denied the gold by what aquatic president Mark Joseph called biased officiating.
It was the third straight silver for the diving squad.
Miguel Molina (1:51.77) failed to win the gold in the 200m freestyle, taking the silver behind Daniel Bego of Malaysia (1:49.22). Bego held the previous record of 1:52.32.
Molina, who did not make the medal round Sunday night in the 200m breastroke, improved the RP mark of 1:52.87 which he himself set in 2007 in Thailand.
Three others broke the SEAG marks, including Filipino Jessie Lacuna, 1:52.22), who was fifth overall.
Jasmine Alkhaldi (26.56) and Heidi Ong (27.01) were fifth and last respectively in the eight-man cast of the 50m freestyle won by Xiang Qi Lim (25.82) of Singapore. Erica Totten (2:15.76) was fourth in the 200m butterfly ruled by Li Tao (2:13.49) also of Singapore.
Muay light fly fighter Roland Claro likewise chipped in a silver medal as he failed to handle Soukhenh Tanpanyauong.
On a brighter note, archer Joan Chan kept the medal hopes burning in the compound individual, beating Norhayati Al-Madihahash of Malaysia, 113-12 ,to move to the semis against Thai Narisara Timbua of Thailand.
But Mark Javier will still be in the sidelines after narrowly losing to Indonesia’s Muhammad Ali Sofian, 107-108, in the 70m recurve event for men.
Three wushu artists are also in the final phase of their events, including Mariane Mariano in (60 kgs), Benjie Rivera (56 kgs) and Mark Ediva (65 kgs) all in sanshou.
Four of three Filipino female boxers – Annie Albania, Christine Kate Apparri and Josie Gabuco – are all in the finals of their weight categories. Albania ripped Sopida Satumrum of Thailand, 6-4, in the 51kg bracket and Apparri won via countback when her bout with Thai Dueannapha Ngamlam in the 48kg division wound up deadlocked at 2.
Only Mitchel Martinez in the 57 kgs division did not move on as she submitted to Peamwilai Laope of Thailand, 4-7, and will come home with a bronze.
Another Filipino survivor is men’s singles table netter Richard Gonzales, who beat Ficky Supit Santoso of Indonesia, 3-1.
RP’s other entry Rodel Valle, who edged Malaysia’s Chai Kian Beng, 3-2, had lost two previous matches. In women’s singles, Charisma Capistrano lost in the first round to Vietnam’s Mai Hoang My Trang, 0-3, while Beverly Villar dropped two consecutive games against a Thai and Malaysian.
Billiards 9-ball icon Efren “Bata” Reyes, unsuccessful in the doubles bid with Django Bustamante, also crashed out right after the first round in English billiards.
Michelle Carolino and Johanna Carpio likewise saw the end of the road in beach volleyball after losing in straight sets to their Thai counterparts. The two finished with a 2-3 win-loss card, good only for third in their group where only the first two teams advance to the crossover semis.
RP’s male regu team bowed to Laos, 0-1, Johnny Arcilla and Patrick Tierro lost two straight sets to Thais Sanchai Ratiwata and Somchat Ratiwata in lawn tennis doubles, Joemil Solomon yielded to Min Swe of Vietnam, 3-7, in the Class E 65 kgs division of pencak silat and Carolino Gonzales was ninth in a field of 14 in the 50m pistol event of shooting
Patrick Magnaye and Jaime Junio both lost in their opening matches in the badminton singles to Lao and Singaporean opponents.