RP boosts SEAG quest with six-gold harvest

The Philippines’ collared six gold medals - its most productive daily output in terms of mints – on Monday in the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos, thanks to the brilliant performances of the golfers, fancied cue artists and an old reliable from athletics. World champions Ronnie Alcano and Rubilen Amit scored a double in billiards and snooker, so did the teenage girls team of golfers Chihiro Ikeda, Dottie Ardina and Mia Piccio while Rene Herrera once more stamped his class in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase to cap the six-gold medal romp of the Filipinos for the day.

Muay bet Zaidi Laruan played his heart out too, delivering the sport’s first ever gold with a win in the men’s lightweight class as Team Philippines continued its resurgence in the overall medal tally. Following the gold rush, the Philippines kept host Laos at bay in a tight battle for sixth place, while putting pressure on Indonesia, which is just two gold medals up at fifth place. The Filipinos now have an 18-19-22 tally compared to Laos’ 15-7-27 and Indonesia’s 20-20-36 mark. Perennial champion Thailand has begun to pull away from the rest of the field with its 40 gold medals (49 silvers, 47 bronzes), with Vietnam a far second (31-29-37) followed by Singapore (26-16-24) at third and Malaysia (21-26-34) at fourth. Good sign “This is a good sign for our overall campaign," said RP team deputy chef de mission Jeff Tamayo. “Patuloy tayong nabubuhayan ng loob na magde-deliver ang ating mga teams sa measurable sports at ibang remaining subjective entries." Amit crushed Angeline Ticoal of Indonesia, 5-1, to wrest the women’s 8-ball single gold from the 2007 winner and deny her of the cash incentive awaiting all Indonesian champions. “$20,000 ang nawala sa kanya (Ticoal) kasi yun ang incentive nila," she said after pulling off the win over her close friend at the Convention Hall of the Don Chan Palace. “Kaya alam ko na kahit kaibigan ko siya, hindi niya ibibigay ang laban. Mas madaming mawawala sa kanya kesa sa akin," added Amit, the reigning world 10-ball champion and winner of the 10-ball gold here two years ago. Amit jumped the gun on the Indonesian, racing to a 4-0 lead then retained her focus to turn the highly-anticipated matchup into a rout. She now sets her sights on the 9-ball single play, which begins Tuesday. It was Alcano who actually started the ball rolling, beating compatriot Gandy Valle, 7-1, in an all-Filipino final that was forged when they easily hurdled their semifinals opponents Sunday evening. Just hours apart, Ikeda came out on top in the battle for individual honors in women’s golf and propped the women golfers’ romp in the team event to make up for a devastating third place finish by their male counterparts at the Booyoung SEA Games Golf Club. Win No. 4 Another small athlete with a big heart was Herrera, who left his opponents in his wake early before easily retaining his steeplechase crown with a clocking of nine minutes, 11.21 seconds. This marks the fourth time the 30-year-old Herrera won the gold in the meet’s steeplechase event, which explained the no. 4 sign he gestured shortly after topping the competition. Laruan was as impressive, outpointing his Laotian opponent before a predominantly hostile crowd at the Beung Kha Ngong Sports Centre for the martial sport’s breakthrough contribution to the RP cause. Sign of more golds coming are very promising. Flyweight Annie Albania and light-fly Alice Kate Aparri disposed of their respective semifinals foes and joined pinweight Josie Gabuco in the women’s boxing finals Wednesday. Also with chances to snare the gold Tuesday are light-welter Jonathan Polosan and flyweight Romnick Pabalate in muay, Jennifer Chan and Earl Benjamin Yap in archery and the RP bets in track and field, judo and shooting. Aside from Valle, also finishing with a silver were light-fly Ronald Claro and lightweight Zaidi Laruan in muay and the pair of Jaime Asok and Ryan Fabriga in a controversial windup in diving’s 10m synchronized diving. Later in the night, swimmer Miguel Molina broke the SEA Games record in the men’s 200m freestyle, but settled for the silver behind Daniel Bego of Malaysia (1:49.22). The 25-year-old Molina clocked 1:51.71 to surpass the old mark of 1:52.32 Bego established in Nakhonratchasima two years ago. Lightweight Mitchel Martinez lost a 4-7 decision to Thai Peamwilai Laopeam and was relegated to the women's boxing bronze, the same shade won by Mercedita Manipol-Fetalvero in the 5,000-m run and the men’s golf team. - GMANews.TV