Philippine wakeboarding team makes waves

MANILA, Philippines — One of the sports that quietly delivered and contributed to the success of Team Philippines in the 30th SEA Games was wakeboarding.

Little has been heard from this sport during the magical 12 days of the biennial meet but wakeboarding netted two gold, two silver and two bronze medals in what could be its most productive showing in years.

Winning two of five golds contested at Deca Wakepark Clark were Jhondi Wallace (men’s wakeskating) and Susan Larsson (women’s skating) while settling for silvers were Samantha Bermudez (wakeboarding) and Raphael Trinidad (wakeboarding).

The two bronzes were produced by Ralph Villaro (wakeboarding) and Christian Joson (wakeskating).

“This has been our strongest showing yet in the biennial meet as the Thais and Indons dominated the previous tournaments. But we trained so hard for this SEA Games and we’re glad we delivered,” said Bermudez. “And we are forever thankful to our competition manager JV Tanjangco and coaches Carlo dela Torre, Carive Rodriguez and Andrea Tanjangco for our success.”

The two other golds were won by Thailand while Indonesia got one.

With its SEA Games success, the team is looking to make waves in the Cablepark World Championships in Thailand next year.