Dominant performance
CAPAS CITY — Team Philippines officially claimed the overall crown of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games after 10 days of action-packed, record-breaking performances by the athletes in the biggest biennial meet.
The host nation already surpassed its total number of medals in the history of the 11-nation conclave with a total of 380 as of posting time (147 golds, 116 silvers and 117 bronze medals).
The last time the Philippines won as many as medals was in 2005 with 291 with 113-85-93 (gold-silver-bronze) though it was 16 events less than today’s edition.
Vietnam was second with 94-85-103 followed by Thailand (91-99-122), Indonesia (72-81-111), Malaysia (53-57-71), Singapore (53-46-67), Myanmar (4-18-49), Cambodia (4-6-36), Brunei (2-5-6), Laos (1-5-27) and Timor-Leste (0-1-5).
The women’s basketball made history last night after drubbing Thailand, 91-71, at the Mall of Asia Arena for the country’s first gold since joining the event in 1981.
Jack Animam led the team of head coach Patrick Aquino with 21 points on nine-of-10 shooting from the field as the Filipina dribblers went undefeated in the tournament.
Hoops dominance
The Philippines has swept the basketball competitions as the men’s and women’s 3x3 teams also took the gold while Gilas Pilipinas was the heavy favorite to beat Thailand in their gold-medal match, which was being played as of press time.
Indonesia took the bronze after beating Malaysia, 70-59, in the women’s side while Vietnam defeated the Rajko Toroman-mentored Indonesia, 86-71, for the bronze medal of the men’s division.
Athletics added two more golds in its haul as Eric Cray nabbed its fourth-straight gold medal in the men’s 400-m hurdles while Aries Toledo stayed as the region’s strongest man after keeping the decathlon crown.
Cray timed in 50.21 seconds to beat Indonesia’s Halomoan Edwin Binsar (50.81) and Vietnam’s Cong Lich Quach (51.60), who settled for silver and bronze, respectively.
“A lot of people are looking at me. There a lot of bad times especially when I got disqualified. But I didn’t pressure myself,” said Cray, referring to his two fault starts in the 100m heats that knocked him out in the finals.
Track team impresses
Toledo collected 7,033 points after 10 events to edge Van Su Bui of Vietnam (6,911) and teammate Janry Ubas (6769) and defend his title.
The Phl track and field team added three more silvers courtesy of Mark Harry Diones (men’s triple jump), Joida Ganao (3000m steeplechase) and Willie Morrison (men’s discus throw).
It was an impressive performance by the national tracksters as they finished third overall with 11 golds, seven silvers and seven bronze medals behind Vietnam (14-12-10) and Thailand (12-10-12).
The men’s volleyball squad succumbed to nine-time champion Indonesia in their gold medal match, 21-25, 25-27, 25-15, to settle for the silver medal last night at the jampacked Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Nonetheless, it was the Filipino spikers’ best finish in the biennial meet since debuting in the tournament in 1977.
Dethroned champion Thailand took the bronze, 25-23, 25-16, 25-20, over Myanmar.
Shooting also yields gold
The trio of Eric Ang, Carlos Carag and Alexander Topacio took the gold in the men’s trap shooting competition, the soft tennis men’s team beat Thailand in the gold-medal game, 2-1, while The E-sports team Sibol dominated Singapore, 4-1, in the gold medal game of the Starcraft event.
Annie Ramirez demolished Malaysia’s Cassandra Poyong in the women’s -55kg category while Adrian Guggenheim defeated Indonesia’s XX Willy in the finals of the men’s -77kg to give jiu-jitsu its last two gold medals.
Overall, the Phl team had a 5-3-3 haul in jiu-jitsu to top the seven-nation field. Rubilen Amit and Chezka Centeno teamed up in sweeping their Indonesian counterparts, 7-0, in the women’s 9-ball doubles while Jean Claude Saclag won the final gold for Phl kickboxing team.