Filipinos pull away with 17 golds

While athletics produced four gold medals yesterday, it was aquatics which created the biggest ripples as Team Philippines won 17 gold medals and held on to the overall lead in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games.

After two days of full-blown competition, the Filipinos remained on top of the leaderboard, looking down their regional rivals with a growing collection of 21 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze medals.

Vietnam, the reigning SEA Games champion, is running second with a 10-6-8 harvest, followed by Malaysia’s 7-10-6, Thailand’s 5-5-14 and Indonesia’s 5-5-9.

Sheila Mae Perez, a charming 19-year-old mermaid from Davao City, became the country’s first double-gold winner in this SEA Games when she topped the 3-meter springboard with a 514.23 total.

The huge crowd at the Trace Aquatics Center in Los Banos exploded with joy as Perez, who teamed up with Ceseil Domenios to win the 3-m synchronized springboard gold Sunday, was awarded her second gold.

Zardo Domenios and Nino Carag also won in diving when they ruled the 3-m synchronized springboard for men at 2.99. Zardo took the bronze in the 1-m springboard the other day.

Also scoring for aquatics were Ryan Fabriga and Kevin Kong who dove for the gold in the 10-m synchronized platform event. With four gold medals, the RP divers now have reason to celebrate after winning only two in 2003.

Athletics won four golds courtesy of Mercedita Manipol in women’s 10,000m, Henry Dagmil in men’s long jump, Danilo Fresnido in men’s javelin and Rene Herrera in men’s 3,000 steeplechase.

Manipol stunned her rivals and even her handlers when she won in 35 minutes and 38.04 seconds while Dagmil leapt 7.81 meters. Fresnido threw the javelin 7.20 meters while Herrera covered his race in 8:56.13.

But the news of the day as far as athletics was concerned was the stinging losses of John Lozada in men’s 800m and Olympian Eduardo Buenavista in men’s 10,000m.

Lozada finished third in the event he was supposed to win. A Vietnamese runner took the gold while the silver went to Midel Dique, also from the Philippines.

Buenavista was also the favorite in his event but ended up sprawled on the track, losing steam in the final stretch against a taller, stronger and better prepared runner from Thailand.

Athletics president Go Teng Kok shouldn’t be happy with the day’s output. Despite winning four golds, two which he had said were in the bag simply got away.

Minutes after Manipol’s win in the morning, the athletics president collapsed on the Rizal Memorial Stadium track. According to witnesses, Go suddenly felt dizzy and vomitted. He was back in his element hours after.

"Over-Fatigue. And maybe too much pressure with my work,"said Go, who also took a silver in women’s javelin courtesy of Rosie Villarito (49.53 m).

As expected and as it should, taekwondo swept four gold medals. They were won by bantam (men) Tshomlee Go, bantam (women) Ester Marie Singson and lightweights Donald Geisler and Marie Rivero.

The snooker team of Leonardo Andam, Jonas Alba, Felipe Tauro, Jr. and 2004 world 9-ball champion Alex Pagulayan pulled off a stunning win over the favored Thai team at the Makati Coliseum.

Creating a lot of noise at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center at around noon was the RP men’s tennis team which won its first team gold in the SEA Games, beating Indonesia.

Fil-Americans Eric Taino and Cecil Mamiit were the stars of the victory, winning the first two singles matches that left the doubles match, which Johnny Arcilla and PJ Tierro lost, irrelevant.

Wushu’s Pedro Quina also delivered the gold for the Philippines (men’s nanquan) as well as Gretchen Malalad (women’s individual kumite 60 kgs) and Maria Marina Pabilore (individual kumite 53 kgs).