Molina, the 22-year-old triple gold medalist in the last SEA Games in Manila, finished second in the first of three heats, barely yielding the honors to Han Kyu Chul of South Korea, whom he towed at the midway mark of the breaststroke stage.
He timed 4:28.99 to Chul’s 4:27.33 clocking with Molina, veteran of the 2004 Athens Olympics, finishing fourth overall in a field of 17 topped by Japanese Sano Hidemasa and Taniguchi Shinya.
Sano ruled heat I in 4:25.21 to install himself the top favorite for the gold in the finals set 4:08 p.m (9:08 p.m. in Manila). Shinya topped heat 2 with a second-best 4:25.62 clocking.
"I am really tired. But I’m very happy," said Molina, a senior student at the University of California-Berkeley. "Hopefully I will win (in the final). But it is hard for me to swim again." Still, the 5-foot-8 Molina hopes to make full advantage of the five-hour rest and regain his bearing and strength and come up with a stronger performance to gain a crack at one of the medals.
"I will give it my best shot but those guys are too fast for me," said Molina.
James Walsh, also a Fil-Am, likewise made the grade in the men’s 200-meter butterfly after finishing sixth overall in the heats in 2:01.94.
Walsh is set to take the plunge again at 6:50 p.m. (11:50 p.m. in Manila) for a shot for top honors. But while Molina and Walsh advanced, the rest of their teammates reeled back after being clobbered by the tough opposition.
That included Fil-Am Erica Totten and Maria Georgina Gandionco, who lagged in fifth place in their respective heats in the 200m-freestyle events and failed to advance with 2:08.83 and 2:09.72 clockings, respectively.
Totten finished over eight seconds behind and Gandionco almost seven seconds behind eventual finalists Maki Mita (2:00.44) and Yang Yu (2:02.75), respectively.
Totten also bowed out of the women’s 100m-fly with in 1:08.89 for fifth while Denjylie Cordero struggled in the women’s 50-meter breaststroke with a similar fifth-place finish in her heat in 36.02.
Violito Payla gave the boxing team an auspicious start as he pummeled Iran’s Omran Akbari, 33-13, at the Aspire Hall 5.
Over at the Luisail Shooting Complex, Jethro Dionisio shot 66 out of 75 birds as the former world practice shooting champion kept his medal bid alive after the first day of shooting competitions.
Dionisio, second after a 23 in the opening round, slid to 19 in the next but fought back with a steady game to close out the first round with 24 points.
He stood four behind frontrunners Meqlad Nasser of Kuwait and Sandhu Manajavit Singh, who had 70 each with two rounds to go.
Veteran campaigner Jaime Recio and Eric Ang were in 25th and 27th place, with 60 and 59 points, respectively.
On the distaff side, Gay Corral closed out tied for 17th to 19th places with 56 points while Anna Maria Gana had a 55 for No. 20 and Veneranda Garcia stood at No. 27 after a 49.
At the Sport City, Parley Tupaz and Rhoyvi Verayo dominated Al Abri and Al Subri of Oman to fashion out an inspiring 21-12, 21-14 victory in beach volleyball.
In soft tennis, the RP tandem of Wenifredo de Leon and Orlando Silvoza II took a 0-5 beating from Shigeo Nakahori and Tsuneo Takagawa of Japan in the first doubles match in soft tennis.
In table tennis, Ernesto Buen bowed to Bu Hijji Hamad of Brunei, 5-11, 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 8-11.