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NAKHON
RATCHASIMA—Benjie Tolentino, big, muscular and powerful,
and Rubilen Amit, diminutive and precise, provided the
only two victories for Team Philippines which continued
to struggle in the 24th Southeast Asian Games Sunday.
Count
their equipment in—Tolentino’s long oars and Amit’s cue
sticks—as saviors for the country which had extreme
difficulty shooting for the gold medals in other fronts.
The
six-foot-two Tolentino, a veteran of two Olympics,
remained king of the men’s lightweight singles sculls in
rowing, a feat he pulled off by following his coach’s
instruction to the letter.
Form and substance.
Asian
champion Willy Wang is all business in the men’s nanquan
(three events combined), as Janice Hung takes the bronze
in the women’s taijiquan (two events combined) in wushu
competitions in the 24th Southeast Asian Games Sunday at
the Kebkanjana Hall in Nakhon Ratchasima.
--NONIE REYES
Amit won
hers—the women’s 9-ball of pool singles—by wearing down
her Indonesian rival to contribute to the Philippines’
medal coffers which stood at 16 gold, 23 silver and 41
bronze medals after sundown Sunday, way off the hosts
who are well on their way to becoming overall champions
again with 65-57-37 (gold-silver-bronze).
Ten
silver medals were added to the campaign Sunday, as well
as 18 bronzes, putting the Philippines in fourth behind
the 26-13-38 of second-running
Vietnam
and No. 3 Singapore’s 20-18-14.
Among
the silver-medal contributors were dancesports with
four, triathlon with two and fencing, rowing and
weightlifting with one apiece.
Most
glaring of the bronze medals was Baby Marites Bitbit’s
in cycling’s 30-km women’s individual time trial of
road. Bitbit submitted the event’s best time, but
surprisingly, the organizers chopped off three minutes
from the times of two Thai cyclists who eventually
earned the gold and silver medals.
Triathlon has wrapped up its competitions and with the
gold medal Ryan Mendoza won in men’s duathlon that went
with the two silver and four bronze medals, the
Philippines wound up overall champion of the sport.
Rowing
is also over in these Games with the Filipinos notching
a 2-2-2 gold-silver-bronze performance, and so is
dancesports (2-4-3) and wrestling (0-4-3). Shooting was
staged way ahead of the formal opening last Thursday and
could only show 0-3-1.
Tolentino did just what his long-time Lithuanian coach
Rolandas Kazlauskas told him. And he goes home with his
second gold medal after the men’s doubles sculls he won
with Jose Rodriguez Saturday.
“Sabi
ni coach huwag masyadong seryoso, baka ma-rattle
lang. Kaya, ayun, ’yung mga nauna sa akin mga
nagsitukod. Ako naman kumana ako ng kumana nang makakita
ako ng tyansa,” said Tolentino, whose sport was
played in Pattaya along with other water sports.
Tolentino ruled the 2,000 meters race with a time of
seven minutes and 12.02 seconds, an amazing seven-second
margin over Thailand’s Pantangthai Piyadanai and 12
seconds over bronze medalist Jamaluddin Jamaluddin of
Indonesia.
Tolentino thus became the second Filipino to win two
gold medals after swimmer Miguel Molina (men’s 200- and
400-meter individual medley). Molina was to shoot for a
third gold medal though in the men’s 4x100-meter
freestyle relay with Kendrick Uy, Daniel Coakley and
James Walsh.
Amit,
who stands close to five feet, nipped Indon Angeline
Magdalena Ticoalu, 7-5, in the 9-ball finals at the Sima
Thani Hotel Grand Ballroom for her second consecutive
gold medal in the event. She is also the Games’ reigning
8-ball titlist.
Despite
having been through the Games twice already, Amit said
she still felt the jitters. “I felt like a first-timer
kaya meron ding kaba,” she said. “Pero gusto
ko lang talagang manalo para sa bansa, kaya
concentrate lang sa laro.”
Those
two golds hardly scratched the bottom as compared to the
country’s 11-gold medal haul Saturday. Athletics, for
one, was a bummer, with Eduardo Buenavista again turning
out a disappointment with the bronze medal in men’s
marathon toped by an Indonesian and a Cambodian. Roy
Vence, a Games veteran and former gold medalist, was
only sixth.
Jho Ann
Banayag could also only show a bronze medal in the
women’s division of the marathon events, which athletics
officials confidently said would be won by Filipino
athletes.
Although
the gold medals came in two drops, the overall campaign
continued to float with the men’s basketball team’s
75-49 domination of Indonesia, the team that was
supposed to be the country’s toughest opponent for the
gold medal.
Spotty
officiating, however, were noticed in the women’s
basketball team’s 70-54 loss to the host Thais, the
favorites in the event. Vicky Brick had 18 points and
seven rebounds in leading the Filipinas, whose
gold-medal prospects turned bleak with their one win,
one loss record.
Joan
Grajales contributed 11 points and five rebounds in the
game where the Filipinas fell to foul trouble early, no
thanks to the whistle-happy referees.
In
boxing, Bill Vicente Vicera yielded to Thai Kaeo
Pongprayoon in the 1:45 mark of the third round of their
pinweight semifinals to settle for the bronze medal. But
Annie Albania stopped Myanmar’s Hninn El Swe at the 2:00
mark of the fourth round to enter the women’s flyweight
finals and bantamweight Jouveliet Chilem eked out a 12-0
victory over
Myanmar’s
Hninn Mo Mo. Flyweight Godfrey Castro stopped Malaysian
Mohammad Ali Abdul Karim to also advance in boxing.
Cecil
Mamiit, meanwhile, opened defense of his men’s tennis
singles crown with a 6-1, 6-1 lacing of
Malaysia’s
Rawi Azlan. The No. 2 seed Mamiit needed only 40 minutes
to dispose of the Malaysian. Diane Matias, also a
Filipino-American, also advanced in the women’s contest
at the expense of Vythinathan Cheelapriya, also a
Malaysian, 6-1, 6-2, in the women’s singles.
Golf
kicks off Monday at the Bonanza Golf and Country Club in
Kaoyai, which is located 100 kms from here. Heading the
men’s charge are Ferdie Aunzo, who fired a three-under
69 during practice Sunday. Mark Fernando, Anthony
Fernando and Jhonel Ababa complete the men’s roster.
Regina de Guzman, Shihiro Ikeda and Anya Tanpinco make
up the women’s team.
Already,
20 percent of the events have been completed. On Monday,
gold medals will be staked in athletics (nine), swimming
(six), badminton (two), bowling (two), cycling (three),
equestrian (one), fencing (three), gymnastics (10),
squash (one), table tennis (two), weightlifting (three)
and wushu (13). |
