Final push not enough, RP finishes 5th in Laos

Cecil Mamiit capped the Philippines’ campaign in the 25th Laos Southeast Asian Games with the men’s tennis singles gold Friday. The seasoned, 33-year old netter romped off with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over Treat Huey in an all-Filipino final, providing the fitting finale to the Filipinos’ determined stand in the 10-day biennial meet that came to a close at the National Stadium.

It was the third straight time Mamiit topped the event. The tennis gold was the 38th overall for the country, not good enough to propel Team Philippines at fourth place, but good enough to achieve its modest goal of improving on its sixth place finish two years ago in Nakhonratchasima, Thailand. With 35 silver and 38 bronze medals, the Filipinos finished a fighting fifth in the biennial meet, just two golds behind fourth place Malaysia, and five behind third place and 2011 host Indonesia. Thailand (86) retained the overall championship, nosing out Vietnam (83) by just three golds in easily one of the closest medal race ever for the SEA Games supremacy. "Despite all the distractions, lumaban pa rin tayo. This is a tribute to the athletes’ will and resiliency," said RP Chef De Mission Mario Tanchangco just before the closing ceremony at the National Stadium in Vientiane. Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Harry Angping also paid tribute to the athletes, saying, “overall it was a great experience for everyone who competed in Laos." "In retrospect, I am overwhelmed by the accomplishments of our athletes. They have performed beyond my expectation," added the PSC chief, who earlier predicted a 32 gold medal haul for the country. Mamiit is definitely one of the stars for Team Philippines, joining swimmer Miguel Molina, golfer Chihiro Ikeda and cue artist Rubilen Amit among the double gold medal winners for the country. The Fil-Am netter also bagged a gold in the men’s team event he shared with teammates Patrick John Tierro, Johnny Arcilla and Huey. Athletics holds the distinction of winning the most number of gold medals for the country with seven – two of them setting two new SEA Games record – followed by boxing with five and taekwondo and swimming with four each. Also delivering gold medals in their own humble way were wrestling and billiards with three each, tennis, wushu, judo and golf with two, while with one each are muay, karatedo, archery and shooting. Contributing at least a bronze each were diving, weightlifting, pencak silat, water polo, sepak takraw, table tennis and petanque. Shut out of any medal were beach volleyball and badminton. The country sent a total of 251 athletes who participated in 24 of the 28 events at staked here. Aside from Mamiit and Huey, there were a few others who tried to give the country’s campaign on the final day of action one last push, but came up short. Mamiit and Huey themselves teamed up heroically and battled the Thai twins, Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana before yielding, 2-6, 7-5, 8-10 in the men’s doubles final. The silver finish was the third for tennis, which also had two gold and five bronze medals. Metodio Suico Jr. and Aleta Junmar lost to a pair of Vietnamese, 17-21, 17-21, and settled for the bronze in sepak takraw’s men’s doubles. Tac Padilla also failed to follow up on his 25m rapid fire pistol gold, landing 10th in the 25m center fire with 555 points. Even worst were teammate Ronald Hejastro (540) and Robert Donalvo (736) as the squad finished at fourth with a 1631 total, 60 short of a bronze. There could have been more medals won had not the raging dispute between the country’s top sports officials seemingly drew a wedge between those funded and supported by the PSC and by those whose allegiance is to the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC). And then there’s the case of cyclist Maritess Bitbit, who was withdrawn by the POC from her events as a sign of support to her teammates banned from competing here by the International Cycling Union (Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI). Bitbit could have been a strong bet for at least three gold medals. – GMANews.TV