Medals Continue To Pour For Phl On Day 3 Of SEA Games

Amid the heavy downpour brought about by Typhoon Tisoy, the Philippines went business as usual on Tuesday and winning the gold medal remained as the top priority.

The debuting sanda fighters from wushu kicked their way to five gold medals and spearheaded the country’s production on the third day of the competitions.

Divine Wally, Jessie Aligaga, Arnel Mandal, Francisco Solis and Clemente Tabugara Jr. all came up with golden feats in contrasting fashions, but these were enough to stabilize the Filipinos’ hold of the overall lead in the medal tally on a day when several events were cancelled due to bad weather. 

Game officials and athletes had to adjust to the situation following changes in the schedule.

Competing in the 48-kilogram women’s division, Wally, an Asian Games gold medalist, pounded on her Vietnamese rival, Thi Chinh Nguyen.

Like Wally, Mandal also had an easier time disposing of his counterpart, Indonesia’s Laksamana Pandu Pratama, in the 52kg division, while Aligaga also made mincemeat of his finals rival, Ade Permana of Indonesia in the 48kg class.

Solis had to regain his composure before coming away with the telling blows when needed to repulse the challenge of Yusuf Widyanto of Indonesia in the 56kg division.

The men’s side had a chance of sweeping the event, but Vietnam’s Truong Giang Bui prevented the Filipinos from winning it all by defeating Gideon Fred Padua in the 60kg division.

Aside from Agatha Wong, who notched her second gold medal on Tuesday after winning the women’s taolu taiijan after posting a score of 9.65, the wushu bets became the rich source of the Philippines’ gold haul on Day 3.

Arnis, the winningest sport for the country so far, added two more gold medals on Tuesday following victories posted by Crisamuel Delfin and Mary Allin Aldeguer in the non-traditional men’s and women’s open weapon.

Delfin came away with an average of 9.830 to earn the nod of the judges in the men’s side while on the distaff division, Aldeguer was able to garner 9.630.

Overall, arnis accounted for 14 of the 20 gold medals at stake and contributed about 30 percent in the output produced by the entire Philippine contingent after three days of competition. The Filipinos continued to cling on top of the medal race with a total of 47 gold, 29 silver and 17 bronze medals or a total of 92.

Vietnam is currently running second in the derby with 23 gold, 27 silver and 25 bronze medals.

Also  yesterday, Carlos Yulo, the pint-sized dynamo of Philippine athletics, went to work anew and produced another golden feat — this time in the floor exercise. But Yulo, who won the World Championship a few months ago in Germany, was denied of an opportunity to win his third gold medal as Tan Ju Fie of Malaysia edged him in the pommel horse.

Even before the latest triumphs registered by the local athletes, organizers had to cancel several games due to bad weather.

Among the casualties were the  games in Subic like beach volleyball, muay, pencak silat, triathlon/duathlon, modern pentathlon, sepak takraw and water sports like surfing, canoe/kayak, sailing/windsurfing.

In the Southern Luzon cluster, games like underwater hockey, skateboard and polo were also postponed while in the Metro Manila cluster, esports and tennis were also reset. In Clark, petanque was also moved to another  day.   

Gilas returns

Buoyed by the historic feats completed by the Gilas Pilipinas men’s and women’s teams in the 3x3 event, the Philippine cagers composed of some of the best and the brightest stars in the PBA take center stage on  Wednesday when they face the Singaporeans at  8:15 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena.

A last minute change in the line up was made by the Philippine squad, inserting seven-foot center Greg Slaughter to replace the injured Roger Pogoy.

This means that the Philippine men’s basketball team will finally have Slaughter playing alongside his long-time rival, 6-foot-10 and reigning five-time MVP June Mar Fajardo to form the tallest frontline ever assembled by the national team in the biennial meet.

A thumb injury deprived seven-foot slotman Slaughter a slot in the Final 12 earlier.

Also making his return coaching in the international scene is Tim Cone, who last handled the national squad in 1998 as mentor of the Centennial Team that won the bronze medal in the Bangkok Asian Games.