By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The Philippine obstacle racers have assured a pair of gold-silver medal finishes in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the OCC Wedding Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Wednesday, May 3.

Precious Cabuya and Kaizen dela Serna set up an All-Filipina showdown in the women’s division finals, after finishing in the Top 2 in the 100-meter course initial run.

Cabuya reached the finals after covering the 100-m course in 33.1278 seconds, while Dela Serna submitted a personal-best 34.8634 seconds during the initial round to reach the finals.

Meanwhile, Filipino obstacle racers also dominated the action on the men’s side, with Mark Julius Rodelas and 2019 SEA Games gold medal winner Kevin Pascua reaching the finals.

Rodelas broke his own world standard record of 26.42 seconds with a roaring 25.0921 seconds in the heats, while Pascua chipped in with a new personal best of 26.1896 seconds.

Pilipinas Obstacle Sports Federation president Atty. Al Agra said Rodelas and Cabuya carved their performances in history books as World Obstacle marks and subject to confirmation of the Guinness World Records.

Meanwhile, Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna and Woman International Master Shania Mae Mendoza assured the Philippines of a silver medal in the ouk chaktrong (Cambodian chess) women’s doubles 60-minute event.

A 4-1 win-loss record in the knockout ladder preliminary round netted the Filipina pair a 3.5 tally to a tie with Myanmar and Malaysia, but they have an edge in terms of tiebreaks, according to head coach Jayson Gonzales.

“Kinuwenta na namin, ganoon din ‘yung kanila. Sure ball na sa atin ang silver. Kasi kung may three or two-way tie after the last round, ang first tiebreak ay winner-over-the-other rule,” Gonzales said.

Frayna and Mendoza won over Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos pairs before suffering a 0.5-1-5 defeat at the hands of Vietnamese players in the sixth and penultimate round./ASC, WDJ