Pinoy rowers bag 2 SEA rowing golds, finish third

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines collared two gold medals and one silver to finish third overall behind Vietnam (5-4-1) and Indonesia (3-4-3) in the Southeast Asian Rowing Championships in Selangor, Malaysia over the weekend.

Reigning SEAG champion Nestor Cordova stamped his class in the men’s single sculls while SEAG bronze medalists Edgar Ilas and Benjie Tolentino reigned in the lightweight men’s double sculls to lead the Phl harvest. Roque Abala and Alvin Amposta settled for the silver in lightweight men’s pair.

Cordova checked in at 7:27.24 to easily beat Indonesia’s Memo (7:33.11) and Thailand’s Chaichana Thakum (7:37.49) while Ilas and Tolentino submitted a winning time of 6:48.88 over Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Theuy and Nguyen Van Linh (6:50.80) and Indonesia’s Zeal Anvel Habid and Rendi Syuhkeda (7:00.49).

Abala and Amposta fell short of a third mint as they logged a second-best 7:12.66, four seconds behind the winners, Indonesia’s Eies and Thomas Hallatu (7:08.96). Vietnam’s Dong Anh and Nguyen Kinh Huy were third with 7:12.82.

Ilas, Tolentino, Abala and Amposta joined forces in the lightweight men’s coxless fours but failed to land in the podium, clocking 6:35.95 for fourth behind Indonesia (6:27.12), Vietnam (6:30.82) and Thailand (6:34.71).

“This is a good indication for our SEA Games campaign,” coach Ed Maerina said in Filipino. “We’ll have more time for training, including a one-month stint in China, and hopefully we can improve further before the SEA Games.”

The Pinoy rowers will next compete in the Rowing World Championships in Korea on Aug. 25- Sept. 1 before spending a month in China for extensive training. They are eyeing to compete in a tournament in Jakarta and Hong Kong in November just before embarking on their SEA Games campaign.

The Vietnamese loom as Phl’s toughest rivals in the Myanmar campaign, judging by their conquest of the SEA rowing tilt.

A full-contingent Vietnam paddled its way to the gold medals in  women’s lightweight coxless pairs, women’s lightweight double sculls, and men’s lightweight single sculls, women’s lightweight single sculls and women’s lightweight quadruple sculls. With silvers in women’s single sculls, men’s lightweight quadruple sculls, men’s lightweight double sculls and men’s eight, the Vietnamese successfully retained their overall championship in the regional meet.