TWENTY gold medals were won on Sunday—the biggest single-day gold production so far—and the Philippines went well on its way to its ultimate goal of emerging overall champion of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
From Metro Manila to Subic and Clark, to as far north as La Union and south in Tagaytay City, the host team was relentless in scooping one victory after another to hike its medal haul to 106 gold, 80 silver and 88 bronze medals.
Big numbers indeed for Team Philippines whose goal is to finish on top of the medal tally in as much the same way as it did in 2005, when the overall title was posted on local soil.
The honor roll for Sunday was varied. The list included Sarah Dequinan (women’s heptathlon) and Natalie Uy (women’s pole vault) in athletics; Pauline Lopez (women’s 57 kgs), Samuel Morrison (men’s 80 kgs) and Dave Cea (men’s 74 kgs) in taekwondo; and Jaime de Lange (men’s downhill), Jericho Francisco (men’s park) and Christiana Means (women’s park) in skateboarding.
In muay, Philip Delarmino (men’s elite 57 kgs) and Ariel Lampacan (men’s elite 54 kgs) were victorious, and so were Susan Larsson (women’s wakeskate) and Jhondi Wallace (men’s wakeskate) in wakeboarding and Nielbie Blancada (women’s shortboard) and Roger Casugay (men’s longboard) in surfing.
Bien Zoleta-Mañalac and Bambi Zoleta (women’s doubles) in soft tennis, Melcah Jen Caballero (women’s single scull) in rowing and the men’s baseball and rugby squads, and the Blu Girls in softball refused to be counted out from the gold medal column.
And of course, Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go in women’s gold team match play, a victory that cemented Pagdanganan’s reputation as this side of the world’s best female golfer who will bring her act in 2020 to the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
With two more days left on the competition schedule and less than half of the gold medals that were staked in this biggest SEA Games ever left to be contested, the Philippines is in a position to repeat the “Miracle of 2005,” when the country, as host, emerged overall champion in term of gold medals won.
Indonesia, despite making is own stride, ran second on Sunday with 65 gold, 61 silver and 77 bronze medals, with Vietnam a close third with 61-58-75 (gold-silver-bronze), followed by Thailand (55-73-73) and Singapore (43-33-48).
Malaysia stood outside the magic five with 40-37-50. The rest of the SEA Games countries were way below the tally board—Myan mar was seventh with 3-16-37, Cambodia eighth with 2-4-21, Brunei Darussalam ninth with 1-5-6 and Lao PDR 10th with 0-5-17. Timor Leste has yet to win a medal.
SEA GAMES UNITES FILIPINOS
WHILE action continues in various fronts, Team Philippines Chef de Mission William ‘’Butch’’ Ramirez said the Games is proof that it could unite a country amid negativity and differences.
Ramirez said the sense of patriotism among the Filipinos was awakened by the SEA Games.
“Filipinos from all walks of life passionately cheered the nationals win or loss,” Ramirez said.
“The cheering, of course, was heard round the archipelago, especially if a Filipino bet wins the coveted gold.“
“More than the medal haul, I am thankful for all the sacrifice and hard work that went behind pushing their chances for a shining moment of victory,” he said.
“However, I mean to train the light on the stories beyond these victories. The stories that teach us all lessons, as a sporting community, as a people and as a nation,’’ he added.
BLU GIRLS EXTEND REIGN
THE Blu Girls hit another one out of the ballpark, but the Blu Boys got stranded with a silver medal at The Villages in Clark.
The Blu Girls picked up their 10th SEA Games gold via a sweep to extend their unbeaten run in the biennial meet. They routed Indonesia, 8-0, in the final.
“Of all the softball titles by the Blu Girls, this is the easiest and the sweetest,” Team Manager Randy Dizer said. “It’s because we played in our home court, that’s the biggest thing.”
The Blu Girls were powered by Cheska Altomonte, Garie Blando, Mary Ann Antoleh Hao, Ezra Jalandoni, Lyka Basa and Kikay Palma, among others.
They won SEA Games golds in 1979, 1981, 1987, 1991, 1997, 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2015.
But the Blu Boys suffered a shocking 6-1 loss to Singapore in the men’s final.
It marked the first time that the Philippines lost the men’s crown since the 1997 edition when the country bowed to Indonesia.
BASEBALL TEAM DELIVERS
THE Philippines swept its way to the baseball crown, blasting Thailand, 15-2.
The Filipinos unleashed their full force against the hapless Thais, scoring on each of the first seven innings to win the gold medal in eight innings.
Team Manager Orlando Binarao credited the win to their vaunted offense.
“The boys played very inspired baseball today,” said Binarao after the victory at The Villages.
Indonesia routed Singapore, 10-4, to clinch bronze medal.
CRAY CAN’T MAKE HAY
RIO DE JANEIRO Olympian and one of the athletics team’s best medal hope, Eric Cray, was disqualified from the men’s 100 meters on Sunday at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium.
The 31-year-old Cray was called for two false starts in Heat 1 of the century dash in the morning session of the centerpiece athletics event.
To his dismay, Cray was left watching from the sidelines as Ruttanapon Sowan of Thailand topped the heat at 10.34 seconds.
The record holder of the 100 with 10:25 seconds he set in 2015 in Singapore, Cray could redeem himself in the 400-m hurdles, his pet event, on Tuesday.
Image credits: Roy Domingo