Gold No. 4 for Pinoy jins, 2nd for tanker Molina

Team Philippines netted three more gold medals in the 25th Laos Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane Friday behind taekwondo jin Tshomlee Go, karateka Marla Pabilore and swimmer Miguel Molina. Go's gold was the fourth for the RP jins after the victories of veteran Olympian Toni Rivero (women's welterweight) and Alexander Briones (men's heavyweight), and the women's ppomsae team Rannie Ortega, Janice Lagman and Camille Alarilla.

Taekwondo's four gold medals surpassed the one gold output it won during the 2007 edition of the SEA Games in Korat. Go, a two-time Olympian (2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing) topped the men’s featherweight class in taekwondo by hammering out a 4-0 win over Lee Huynh Chau of Vietnam while the 29-year old Pabilore, a silver medalist in the 2006 Doha Asian Games in Doha, overwhelmed Nguyen Thi Hai Yen of Vietnam, 7-4, in the women’s kumite -55 kg. for RP karate team’s first ever gold in the biennial meet. And Molina? The 2007 Best Male Athlete of the SEA Games became the first Filipino double gold medal winner in the meet after ruling the 200-m individual medley with a time of two minutes and 3.68 seconds. The long-haired, 25-year old swimmer on Thursday night ruled the 400-m individual medley. The Filipinos could have won more, but breaks didn’t get their way, settling instead for a number of silver medals in diving, taekwondo, karate and swimming. The medal output of Team Philippines (7-10-7), however, was not enough as it was dislodged to sixth place by surging Malaysia (8-9-18). Vietnam now has made its way on top of the medal tally with 14 gold, 10 silver and bronze medals. Just behind is powerhouse Thailand (13-20-16) followed by erstwhile leader Singapore (12-5-10) and Indonesia (11-7-14). "Impressive," RP taekwondo coach Rocky Samson quipped after Go wrapped up his final match and won a third straight gold in the meet starting in the 2005 Manila Games. "Kayang-kaya niya ‘yung kalaban. He didn’t encounter any major problem. The outcome was expected. He dominated his opponent right from the start," said the coach of Go, the country’s lone jin to win a gold in the meet two years ago in Nakhonratchasima, Thailand. An education graduate from University of Santo Tomas, the 28-year old Go breezed through the gold medal match with a 7-4 win over long-time rival Mohd Afifuddin of Malaysia in their match at the Booyoung gymnasium inside the National University. Came the final, Go was hardly challenged by his Vietnamese foe, whom taekwondo association vice-president Sung Chung Hong was able to properly scout. "Siyempre, masayang-masaya tayo dahil ito naman lahat ang goal natin, ang manalo," said Go. Bantamweights Eunice Alora and Jeffrey Figueroa grabbed a silver and a bronze, respectively, in taekwondo. Meanwhile, the motivation to avenge his team’s setback propelled Pabilore to her second gold in the Games. "We feel cheated," said the 28-year old Pabillore, a karate gold winner in the Manila 2005 SEA Games. “That’s why I worked extra hard. I wanted to win not just for myself but for my teammates as well. I was the last to compete and I know that everybody was rooting for me." "I really gave my best for this win," the charming karateka added. Earlier, Rolando Lagman and Lutche Metante surrendered the gold medal to their respective counterparts in very controversial fashions at the Budo Centre’s Chao Anouvong gymnasium. Lagman bowed to crowd darling Inkhatep Saythansavanh of Laos, 9-1, in the men’s -55kg kumite while Metante lost to Jamalliah Jamaludin of Malaysia, 7-2, in the women’s +68kg kumite. Over at the National Sports Complex’s diving pool, Sheila Mae Perez was foiled in her bid for a third straight 3m springboard title and had to settle for the silver while Ryan Fabriga could only manage bronze in the 10m platform. The men’s team of Mhark Fernando, Tonton Asistio and Jhonnel Ababa combined for a 215, putting them at third, six behind leader Singapore and just a stroke back of Thailand, after the first round of men’s golf at the SEA Games Golf Club. Women’s action starts Saturday. Another encouraging sign was put up by the tandem of Johanna Carpio and Michelle Carolino, who trounced Laos I 21-14, 21-17 to bounce back from a similar 0-2 loss to Malaysia 1 in Group B of beach volleyball. Also at the NSC beach volley courts, the tandem of Rhovyl Verayo and Jonrey Sasing opened up its Group D campaign in the men’s side with a 21-15, 25-23 victory over Cambodia 2. Zaidi Laruan of muay kept RP’s gold hopes alive in the lightweight class after whipping Vietnam’s Ly Hoang Tan in the semifinal and will proceed to the finals of the event on Dec. 15. Maricel Subang, however, failed to advance, losing to Nguyen Tuyet Dung of Vietnam in their semifinal round match in light flyweight and bowed out with the country’s third muay bronze. Also in position to capture medals are the snooker doubles team of Roberto Gomez Jr and Carlo Biado that took out the Lao tandem of Khamsai and Deathavong, 3-2 in the quarterfinals even as Reynaldo Grandea made easy work of Myanmar’s Aung San, 1-0 in the preliminaries of cushion single carom. Filipino male netters likewise entered the finals after edging Indonesia, 2-1, in the semi-final. The RP bets vie Saturday for most of the 34 gold medals at stake in 10 finals events. – GMANews.TV