Team Philippines hanging tough OCR bets go perfect; Mangrobang, soft netters keep crowns

PHNOM PENH – Sparked by the exploits of a topnotch obstacle course racing team with a perfect batting average, Team Philippines racked up six gold medals yesterday to hold its ground as rivals started to heat up in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games.

The OCR stalwarts put the punctuation mark to yet another sweep of the SEAG events with world record-smashing triumphs in the culminating men’s and women’s team relay events at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center Car Park.

Jayr de Castro, Mervin Guarte, Elias Tabac and Ahgie Radan beat Malaysia’s Ghalib Mohamad Azimi, Mohd Redha Rozlan, Nuur Hafis Said Alwi and Yoong Wei Theng in a thrilling finale witnessed by an animated crowd, logging a winning 24.478 seconds against the latter’s 25.159.

They matched the feat of female counterparts Mhick Tejares, Sandi Abahan, Tess Nocyao and Mecca Cortizano, who a few minutes earlier, timed in 33.733 in the 100m course to edge Indonesia’s Anggun Yolanda, Ayu Pupita, Mudji Mulyani and Rahmayuna Fadillah (35.060).

OCR’s brilliance – a repeat of the contingent’s 6-of-6 harvest the last time the sport was played in 2019 back home – rubbed off on teammates entrenched on other fronts.

Duathlete Kim Mangrobang crowned herself back-to-back champions over in Kep Beach even as Bien Zoleta-Manalac and Princess Catindig repeated as queen of women’s doubles in soft tennis at the Morodok Techo National Stadium.

Jiu-jitsu and karate, medal producers in the first few days, continued their role for the 840-strong delegation backed by the Philippine Sports Commission with karateka Jamie Lim ruling the women’s -61kg play and jiu-jitsu bet Marc Lim topping the men’s ne-waza nogi -69kg class in neighboring halls at Chroy Changvar.

In sweltering heat, Mangrobang covered the 5k run-20k bike-2.5 run course in 1:04:25 to stay at the throne at the expense of Vietnam’s Thi Phuong Trinh Nguyen (1:05:12) and get a big confidence-booster as she vies in triathlon today.

Zoleta-Manalac and Catindig, for their part, blanked three of their challengers including Thai Chatmanee and Napawee Jankiaw in the finals, 5-0, to retain the gold the country won in 2019.

Samboy Lim’s daughter Jamie delivered karate’s second gold here after Sakura Alforte’s triumph in women’s individual kata as she defeated Cambodian Van Chakriya, 3-1, in the championship.

Marc Lim hit paydirt on his third try, taking the gold at the expense of Vietnam’s Dinh Tung Dang and following up the earlier conquests of Kaila Napolis (women’s ne-waza Gi 52kg class) and Annie Ramirez (women’s ne-waza nogi -57kg class).

These triumphs somehow eased the frustrating loss by perennial SEA Games gold medalist Meggie Ochoa, who settled for the silver in the women’s ne-waza nogi -52kg at the hands of home bet Jessa Khan.

Also falling short were the Gilas Pilipinas men’s and women’s 3x3 teams, which yielded to their respective finals rivals, naturalized players-dominated Cambodia, 20-15, and Vietnam, 21-16.

Yesterday’s harvest jacked up the Philippines’ overall medal count to 13 golds, 14 silvers and 16 bronzes as of 7:30 p.m.

The Filipinos kept hold of No. 2 behind Cambodia’s 26-19-21 with Thailand (12-13-19), Indonesia (12-10-22) and Vietnam (10-17-23) close by.