By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Gold medal hauls from boxing and arnis has moved Team Philippines to fifth place in the standings as the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is set to close today.
Tokyo Olympics silver medalists Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio scored convincing wins, while Paul Bascon pulled off a come-from-behind victory as they delivered a gold medal each in boxing.
Paalam dominated Aldoms Suguro of Indonesia to rule the men’s bantamweight class, while Petecio overwhelmed Indonesian Ratna Sari Devi in the women’s featherweight division.
On the other hand, Bascon bounced back from a first round defeat to score a split decision victory over Rujakran Juntrong of Thailand in their light welterweight finals clash. John Marvin and Norlan Petecio added two boxing silver medals.
Meanwhile, Charlotte Ann Tolentino and Jedah Mae Soriano delivered a gold medal each in arnis as they ruled the women’s full contact padded stick finals in the bantamweight and lightweight events, respectively.
Weightlifter Elreen Ando captured a gold medal in the women’s 59 kilogram class with a total lift of 216kg punctuated by new game records of 118kg in the clean and jerk, and 98kg in the snatch.
For her part, Rena Furukawa proved too much for Chu Myat Noe Wai of Myanmar in their battle for the under 57kg class and delivered judo’s first gold medal, while Shugen Nakano settled for silver in the men’s -66kg class and Daryl Mercado ended with bronze in the men’s -55kg.
E-sports delivered its second gold through the Sibol men’s team that swept Malaysia 3-0 in the finale of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang event, and wrestler Jason Balabal topped the 82kg class.
Aside from Balabal, Team Philippines captured three silver medals in wrestling courtesy of Jason Baucas (men’s 72kg Greco Roman), Noel Norada (men’s 62kg GR) and Michael Cater (men’s 55kg GR), and a bronze from Chlovelle Adolfo (men’s 67kg GR).
Fencers Andrea Sayson, Nicole Cortey, Queen Dalmacio, and Jylyn Nicanor contributed a silver medal for the national team delegation in the women’s saber team event.
Ending with bronze were the tennis tandem of Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal in the men’s doubles, Carl Joshua Tangonan and Charmaine Dolar in aerobics gymnastics mixed pair, Nicole Ann McCann and Veronica Garces in taekwondo kyorugi./ASC, WDJ