Pilippinel tankers make waves at Arafura

MANILA, Philippines — Ivo Nikolai Enot topped the 50-meter backstroke for his third gold medal, capping the Philippines’ impressive campaign in swimming competitions of the Arafura Games at the Parap pool in Darwin, Australia Tuesday.

Enot, 13, from Davao City, clocked 29.80 seconds to dominate the event in the 13-14 age bracket, adding the gold to his earlier triumphs in the 100m and 200m backstroke events. 

Samuel Alcos, 21, also scored a follow-up to his 50m breaststroke victory by reigning in the 100m event in 17-and-over division with a clocking of one minute, 5.63 seconds.

The Philippine swimming team thus ended up with the most number of golds with 17 that went with 27 silvers and 17 bronzes. It wound up with a 30-47-28 gold-silver-bronze tally following Tuesday’s competitions.

Meanwhile, the Philippines kicked off its campaign in badminton preliminaries with an 8-0 sweep of Guangzhou at the Darwin Convention Center.

Karylle Kay Molina beat Lan Xu, 21-6, 21-9, in women’s singles of the tie then partnered with Estarco Bacalso in the mixed doubles and overpowered Yin Du and Chongwei Lu, 21-3, 21-3.

Bacalso ripped Runjun Yu, 21-3, 21-4; while Arthur Samuel Salvado clobbered Peiyu Wu, 21-4, 21-4, in the men’s singles.

Macy Anne Patricia Salvado outplayed Limin Xiang, 21-4, 21-9, in women’s singles; while Salvado and Jackie Lynn Pana won in women’s doubles with a 21-5, 21-2 romp over Jianhua Huang and Xiang.

Pana topped the mixed doubles with Arthur Samuel Salvado as they posted a 21-3, 21-10 victory over Dongqiu Chen and Lan Xu while John Rodney Pana and Johan Art Rivas trounced Dongqiu Chen and Peiyi Wu, 21-3, 21-6, in men’s doubles.