Water polo silver RP’s first medal

LOS BAÑOS — The water polo team kicked off the Philippines’ medal chase in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games with a silver medal finish in the sport yesterday, beating Malaysia, 8-2, at the close of the five-day event at the Trace Aquatics Center here.

The Nationals played just good enough to dominate the Malaysians and close out their campaign with a 4-1 (win-loss) mark as they wound up second to eventual champion Singapore, which took the gold medal with a five-game sweep, capped by its 15-4 rout of Vietnam.

Still, the silver-medal effort by the RP team should be enough to inspire a Philippine contingent raring to flex its muscles in various fronts at the formal start of the biennial event tomorrow with 13 golds at stake in five events in the day. It was also an improvement from the water polo team’s bronze-medal finish in Vietnam two years ago.

Sherwin de la Paz led the Nationals with two goals, all in the first period when coach Rey Galang’s wards roared to a 4-1 lead before slowing down in the next three quarters.

Monsuito Pelenio, Robert Dilap-Dilap, Dale Evangelista, Michael Jorolan, Norton Alamara and Roy Canete all contributed a goal apiece for the Philippines, which barely missed gaining a crack at the gold medal with a heart-breaking 6-7 loss to Singapore on the second day of action.

Two days before the keenly-awaited sporting event in the region opens in grand rites at the Luneta Park, Singapore held the distinction of being the first gold medal winner in the SEA Games.

The Singaporeans hardly worked out a sweat in completing their five-game romp as they pounced on the hapless Vietnamese to retain the title anew.

Singapore scored the first 11 goals and never looked back. Vietnam only scored when Ma Hong Dan banged in the first of his back-to-back goals at the 3:09 mark of the third period.

Alvin Wang, Terrence Tan Wei Keong, Lee Sang Mei, Nicholas Wei at Lou Nan contributed two goals each for the well-balanced offense of the Singaporeans.

In five games, Singapore had an average winning margin of 9.6 points per game with only the Philippines providing the biggest scare.

The diving event, which stakes 10 gold medals, will commence tomorrow while action in swimming competitions begin on Nov. 29 with 32 golds up for grabs.