Gold drought hits Philippine camp

Palembang – The soft tennis players fought their Indonesian rivals in a fierce battle for the team title but missed giving Team Philippines its only gold following severe losses here and in the far reaches of the Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta and West Java.

The Indonesians prevailed, 2-0, in the doubles played by Arcilla brothers Jhomar and Joseph and in the singles as they settled for silver in the team event of soft tennis at the Tennis Center of the Jakabaring Sriwijaya Sports Center.

 In Jakarta, the men’s sabre team bannered by gold medal winner Walbert Mendoza and backed by Giancarlo Nocom, Eric Brando II and Edmon Velez, managed a third place finish.

The wakeboard mixed team of Samantha Bermudez, Mark Griffin and Carlo dela Torres could not get the maximum number of five members to gain maximum points and settled for the bronze in the three-team finals. 

Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes won over Indonesia’s Tonny Ho, 40-18, and Reynaldo Grandea notched a 40-18 victory over Pauk Sa of Myanmar to enter the carom 3-cushion semi-finals and avenge Jundel Mazon’s 8-9 loss to Indonesia’s Irsal Nasution in men’s 9-ball singles quarterfinals.

There were gloomier news in other fronts as Kristian Guerrero and Jonathan Feleo wound up sixth and eighth and Ina Flores fifth in their respective qualifying rounds in sport climbing’s speed event.

The Phl also presented its first weightlifter in 56 kgs entry Nestor Colonia who wound up fourth with a combined 258 in snatch and clean and jerk, way off the 280 of gold medallist Tran Le Quoc Toam Voc of Vietnam.

 In wushu, nanquan bet Thornton Quieney Sayan was only sixth in the event.

 After eight of 10 races in sailing, Rubin Cruz Jr. is the best positioned Filipino, occupying third in the optimist class.

The fencers, meanwhile, closed out their campaign with a bronze medal in men’s team sabre event at the University of Indonesia multi-purpose hall in Depok.

Seeded in the semifinals, the Filipino sabre team, led by individual champion Wally Mendoza, failed to progress to finals, bowing to the Malaysias, 33-45.

Mendoza, Giancarlo Nocom, Edwin Velez and Eric Brando III bowed to the Malaysians, flashing brilliancy only in the early goings.

A perennial SEA Games top notcher in fencing, the Philippines ended up with its worst finish in the regional sports showcase with one gold courtesy of Mendoza and a bronze medal each in the women’s team sabre and team epee events.

This was a far cry from the 3-6-6 gold-silver-medal tally of the Filipinos in the 2007 Nakhon Ratchasima Games.

“Our outcome in fencing reflected our lack of preparation and foreign exposure compared to our rivals,” said coach Orly Vizcayno. 

 Meanwhile, in Jakarta and West Java, the long reigning men’s basketball champion team soothed the Filipino athletes’ heartaches and heartbreaks by winning its semifinal match against Malaysia.

Jelou Mosqueda, Helen Dawa and Dennis Catipon had their contributions in their fighting bronze-medal finishes in judo.

Nancy Quillotes produced a gold Thursday, a feat expected to be duplicated by ageless warrior John Baylon today.

Sinag Pilipinas went to serious business in the final half and moved to the threshold of the precious basketball gold medal with a 103-74 rout.

The Nationals took sometime to get their game going, seemingly affected by Perlas Pilipinas’ heartrending loss to Thailand in a virtual winner-take-all match for the women’s title earlier.

The Philippines also had a sad day in the BMX and archery competitions.

Filipino-American BMX riders Alexis Manosa and Daniel Patrick Manabat were declared ineligible to compete due to technicality.

They were considered bright gold medal prospects being top performers in the world meet.

Filipino officials wondered why the two riders were declared ineligible only during the managers’ meeting Thursday night.

SEAG organizers disqualified the two for carrying two UCI licenses, one American and another Filipino.

In wushu, Quiney Thornton was sixth out of seventh in the nanquan event.