Bowler Rivera bags PHL's 1st Asiad gold

GUANGZHOU — Bowler Engelberto “Biboy" Rivera snared the Philippines' first gold medal in the 16th Asian Games, eemingly in response to a wake-up call from a dancing duo that delivered two bronze medals last Sunday. Rivera’s magnificent 365 in the final sixth game more than made up for a shaky 196 in the 52-man Batch A, and his 237.5 average withstood the challenge of all 52 in Group B. His feat ended the tension-filled, half-day wait for the lean Philippine delegation that hopes to improve on the 4-6-9 gold-silver-bronze haul of 2006 in Doha, Qatar. Rivera had a total 1414 pinfalls. “I sincerely hope that this is the start of better things to come," said a beaming Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco Jr., who was an excited spectator along with Sports Commission chairman Ritchie Garcia. Also at hand was the POC head's daughter Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, herself an Asiad gold medalist, who carried the national colors during the opening day parade Wednesday. With a full complement for the trios and team of five, Rivera can also shoot for the all-events gold. Frederick Ong made it even sweeter for the 12-man bowling crew, salvaging the bronze with a total of 1390 behind Kuwaiti Mohammed Algreebah who had 1404. Despite the dolorous showing in swimming and judo, the Filipinos were able to place themselves in good position in chess and women’s billiards. Daniel Coakley placed 16th out of 43 in the 50-m freestyle heats while Erica Totten was booted out for the third time in as many days, including her Monday’s 200-m butterfly campaign where she placed 9th out of 13 pre-qualifiers. The Philippine quartet of Jessie Khing Lacuna, Charles William Walker, Ryan Paolo Arabejo and Miguel Molina also did not make the grade for the final eight in the 4X200 freestyle relay. They turned in 7:33.52 or 14.22 seconds slower than a Chinese foursome that topped heat one. A day after the fiasco that prevented the advance of the six red ball team to the medal round of play, small but terrible Rubilen Amit and steady Iris Ranola scored wins in succession in the 8-ball event to cut short the misfortunes for billiards, one of the few disciplines that was expected to provide strong medal hopes for the Filipinos. Amit blanked Uyanga Battulga of Mongolia, 5-0, while Ranola had some shaky moments before subduing Zoljargal Zorigt of Mongolia, 5-3. The triumphs came on the heels of the bronze medals won by Ronnie Steeve Vergara and Charlea Lagaras in cha cha cha and paso double events of dancesports Sunday afternoon. The two dancers along with 10 others and the team officials left for Manila Monday morning to share the country’s bright moment. It came at a time when Filipinos were still in high spirits over the eighth world title captured by Rep. Manny Pacquiao, who had beaten Mexican fighter Antonio Margarito black and blue. “All team officials knew that we would win a medal even in the face of tough competition. We are very proud of our dancers because they all trained hard for the Asian Games. We could have done better, but we are happy with the results," said Maria Neto and lawyer Noel Laman, officials of the dancesports federation. Grandmaster Wesley So had a win-draw tally in round four and found himself in an ideal position at third in a tie with seven others, each with three points apiece. So’s output was a full point behind fellow GM and current leader Le Quang Liem of Vietnam. Another Filipino chesser, GM Rogelio Antonio, is in a seven-man logjam at 2.5 points. The two will play three matches Tuesday before completing the nine-round Swiss system race for individual honors. In Chinese chess, Jackson Hong and Sandy Chua both faltered in the second round, leaving them right in the middle of the pack with a point apiece. Eduard Folayang, a mixed martial arts rising star competing in the heaviest weight category in the sanshou event of wushu — 70 kgs. — lost to Yong Zhang of China. while Mary Jane Estimar yielded to Iran’s strongwoman Elaheh Samiroumi Mansoryan. Early Monday, the Philippines dropped its doubles match in soft tennis and was blanked by Japan, 0-5. The Filipinos also lost to Chinese Taipei, 2-5, in the mixed doubles competition. - RCJ/KY, GMANews.TV