Women power keys Phl surge

PALEMBANG, Indonesia – The women showed the guts of amazons in athletics and karatedo, while female poomsae artists unraveled their world-championship form in a very young sport as the Philippines got its medal campaign going with three golden triumphs in two major fronts of the 26th Southeast Asian Games yesterday.

Bringing their world-class act to Jakarta, the trio of Rani Ann Ortega, Francesca Camille Alarilla and Ma. Carla Janice Lagman performed with the same precision, grace and power that won them the first world poomsae championships two years ago in Africa as they took the gold with an average of 8.26 from 8.34 and 8.17 in the first two routines.

There were actually only two participants in the event, a non-combat form of taekwondo (synchronized taekwondo), with the Vietnamese giving the Filipinas a close fight with 8.21 for the silver.

Marvin Vidal took the silver in tandem with Shaneen Ched Sia in the poomsae pairs (8.02) in a tight contest with the pair from Vietnam  (8.13), and   turned in a bronze (7.67) in the individual event behind Indonesia (8.22) and Vietnam (8.10).

Ma. Camille Manlo, competing in the lightweight division, drew a bye in the first round, crushed hometown darling

Vony Dian Permat in the semifinals and hammered out a runaway 7-3 win for the gold over Vietnamese Thanh Thai Nguye in the evening.

For several hours, officials of the Philippine delegation burned the telephone lines as conflicting reports of the karatedo competitions caused confusion among officials, competitors and media.

Karateka OJ delos Santos contributed the bronze medal in the individual kata.

The official website of the SEA Games made the Indonesian a semifinal winner over the Filipina in the semifinals and the gold medal winner over the Vietnamese in the finals.

In Palembang, Torres ignored the searing mid-morning heat and two fouls to claim the gold with a long jump mark of 6.71m, breaking her Philippine and Southeast Asian Games norm of 6.69 she herself set in the 2009 Laos Southeast Asian Games.

Torres made the record jump on her third attempt and  went through the motion of finishing her routine as the last jumper on the lineup in the sixth and last attempt with Indonesian Maria Londa scoring only 6.420 and compatriot Katherine Santos mustering 6.20.

Londa and Santos were both born Oct, 29,1990 and were on their first try in the SEA Games, but the similarity ended there as the Indonesian took the silver (6.47) from her fourth attempt and Bautista, protégé of former long jump queen Lerma Balauitan,  settled for the bronze with 6.25 on her third try.

Torres was impeccable in her start run from a very long 30 meters, timed  her take off from an accelerated pace and knew she had already exceeded her standard right upon landing on soft soil with a jump over 6.71m on her third  try.

Londa fouled on her first two tries, while Santos did not score in the first try, then made 6.04 in the second.

That put a huge gap between her and Londa (6.22) and Santos (6.025) even as she again fouled in the fourth and fifth attempts. The most the Indonesian could do was 6.47m in the fourth attempt.

In the Gunung Pancar course in Jakarta, the cycling team, denied participation in the 2009 SEA Games in a controversy revolving internal leadership rivalries, got off to a big start with the silver medal finish of Joey Barba in the 1.5 km downhill event.

Everything was practically lost for Barba, who finished sixth in the qualifying, when his pedal clip loosened up. With the gold medal on the line, the Filipino daredevil relied on pure instinct and almost snatched the gold,  finishing only .99 seconds behind the gold medal winner from Indonesia.

The Philippines ended a long day with 3-3-7 gold-silver-bronze medals for fifth place behind host Indonesia (18-11-4), Singapore (5-6-8), Vietnam (4-5-4) and Thailand (4-4-7).

Relegated to the lower half of the standings were Malaysia (1-3-6), Myanmar (0-3-2), Laos (0-0-4), Cambodia (0-0-1) and winless Brunei an Timor Leste.

Filipino mountain bikers  Eusebio Quinos, Nino Surban, Dado Japitanba and Alvin Binosa gun for the gold in the cross country today at the site of F-1racing – the F1 Sentul Inrternational Racing Circuit in Bogor.

Meanwhile, Orencio James delos Santos produced a bronze medal in men’s individual kata, bouncing back from a first-round loss to beat Malaysian Leong Tze Wai in their carta repercharge battle over at the Senayan Sports Center.