Pinoys claim 3 golds but remain at 7th

NAY PYI TAW – Two-time 10-ball world champion Rubilen Amit and two judokas saved Team Philippines from ignominy of total embarrassment, but their modest output of three gold medals hardly made a dent on the standings yesterday as it remained at seventh place going into the last day of the 27th Southeast Asian Games here.

Rubilen Amit, taking up the cue from grieving, distressed Iris Rañola, defeated Indonesian Angeline Magdalena with a vengeful victory that made up for their loss in the 9-ball event to the same rival.

The triumph, the billiards’ team’s second after Dennis Orcollo’s win also in the 10-ball earlier, came after two short, sensation victories by a Fil-Japanese teenager Kiyomi Watanabe and comebacking veteran Gilbert Reyes in judo.

For a while, the three triumphs jacked up the Philippines’ gold medal tally to 26 and displaced Singapore but by the time the results came from the sailing competitions, the island nation of two million had copped six more golds to remain at sixth.

With over 90 percent of the 460 gold medals already given away, Thailand was the virtual overall champion with 89-86-70 gold-silver-bronze medals, with Myanmar passing Vietnam at second with 69-53-66. Vietnam was relegated to third with 66-71-73, with Indonesia fourth with 61-68-95, Malaysia fifth with 37-36-66 and Singapore sixth with 31-28-42.

Team Philippines is now looking for at least six gold medals in today’s nine final events. 

In muay thai, Philip Delarmino competes in the men’s 54 kg, Preciosia Ocaya in the 54 kg and Jonathan Polossan in the 63.5 kg class.

The judokas, trained in Iran for two months before the SEA Games, hope to win two more golds when Angelo Gabriel Gumila competes in the 90 kg category and veteran Ruth Dugaduga fights in the +78 kg class.

In taekwondo, the jins complete their stint with concluding fights in four divisions. Kristopher Robert UY fights in the +87 kg, Mary Anjelay Pelaez in the -46 kg, Jane Rafaelle Narra in the -73 kg and Kristie Elaine Alora in the +73 kg.

Richard Gonzales remained on course for what could be his second gold since the 2005 SEA Games as he led the five-man Group D preliminaries in table tennis with two wins, with still two games left late yesterday afternoon.

He came back from two sets down to upset Malaysian champion Muhd Shakin Ibrahi, 4-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-13, in the first match, then topped Thai Chaisit Chaitat, 2-11, 11-7. 12-10, 11-8.

The semifinals and finals will be held today.