EYES ON THE PRIZE
PH boxers try to spark medal drive
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—Team Philippines tries to pin its hopes on its boxing team as four fighters battle in the gold-medal round Saturday, May 13, in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center here.
Final matches begin at 4 p.m. with Rogen Ladon first taking the ring when he clashes with Thailand’s Thanarat Saengphet in the men’s 51kg, followed by Ian Clark Bautista against Indonesia’s Asri Udin in the men’s 57kg.
Then it would be the women’s turn with Tokyo Olympian Irish Magno clashing with Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in the women’s 54kg, followed by Riza Pasuit over Vietnam’s Thi Linh Ha in the women’s 63kg.
The remaining five fighters will compete on Sunday, May 14, as the national boxing team seeks to sweep all their final assignments to steer the PH’s gold-medal drive following a sluggish two days where it only bagged two golds courtesy of Joseph Arcilla in soft tennis Wednesday, May 10, and Eric Cray in men’s 400-meter hurdles Thursday, May 11.
As of early Friday, May 12, the country trails at sixth place in the overall medal tally with 27 gold, 46 silver and 59 bronze medals.
Vietnam continues to dominate the standings with 51 golds, 51 silvers and 65 bronzes, followed by Thailand with 5137-55, Cambodia (48-41-54), Indonesia (37-32-56) and Singapore (31-23-31).
But Team PH is optimistic it would catch up going to the final stretch of the Games with athletes from arnis, weightlifting, judo, kickboxing, taekwondo, traditional boatrace and wrestling about to start their bids.
Arnis stakes 12 gold medals, weightlifting nine, judo 13, kickboxing 17, taekwondo 24, traditional boatrace 13, and wrestling 17.
Still in medal contention are teams from indoor volleyball and beach volleyball, basketball, fencing, wushu, esports, tennis and cricket.