De la Cruz couple hits gold

CLARK — The husband and wife tandem of Paul Marton and Rachelle Anne de la Cruz finally ended the medal drought of the Philippines in the archery competition of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. And they ended the drought in style — by winning the gold medal. The Dela Cruz couple edged the Vietnamese pair of Van Day Nguyen and Kieu Oanh Chau, 148-147, in the mixed team compound category to give the country its first gold in the archery event on Monday at the Parade Grounds here. Indonesia took the bronze medal after trouncing Malaysia, 152-150.

The Filipino couple displayed nerves of steel to get past the Vietnamese in the finals after breezing past Malaysia, 153-148, in the semifinals.

The Filipino archers last won a gold medal in the biennial meet during the 2013 edition in Myanmar courtesy of the men’s compound team of Earl Benjamin Yap, Ian Patrick Chipeco and Delfin Anthony Adriano.

In the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia, the archers bagged a silver and four bronze medals.

Meanwhile, the trio of Rachelle Ann de la Cruz, Andrea Lucia Robles and Abbigail Tindugan lost to Kieu Oanh Chau, Phuong Le Thao and Vy Tuong Nguyen of Vietnam, 215-217, for the bronze in the women’s team compound.

Thailand took the gold via a 221-217 win over Indonesia. Earlier, Vietnam collected three of the five gold medals in the recurve competition.

The 26-years old Loc Thi Dao trounced Pyae Sone Hnin, 6-4, of Myanmar in the women’s individual recurve while leading the Vietnamese squad to the golden finish in the women’s team and mixed team divisions.

Indonesia topped the men’s individual and men’s team events after rolling past Malaysia, 5-4, and Myanmar, 6-4, in the men’s team and individual events, respectively.