Philippine athletes fight their way to golden finishes

World champion Nesthy Petecio celebrates her SEA Games boxing gold, her first. Danny Pata

Filipino athletes fought their way to the gold as combat sports dominated the medal haul in the penultimate day of competition at the Southeast Asian Games on Monday.

Boxing, jiu-jitsu, taekwondo, karatedo, kickboxing, and wrestling combined for more than half of the 23 gold medals to the Day 9 medal tally for the home team.

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Pinoy boxers scored seven of the ten gold medals at stake in boxing tournaments. Eumir Marcial, Rogen Ladon, Carlo Paalam, James Palicte, Josie Gabuco, Charly Suarez, and world champion Nesthy Petecio topped their respective weight categories for the golden finish.

Meggie Ochoa, Carlo Peña, and Dean Michael Roxas led the jiu-jitsu team to three golds on opening day of the competition.

Jamie Lim, the daughter of PBA legend Samboy Lim, copped her own gold in karatedo, while Jerry Olsim notched his own in kickboxing.

Jason Baucas and Noel Norada also hauled two golds from wrestling.

Kurt Barbosa added another gold from taekwondo.

Water sports also contributed to the haul with three golds: Geylord Coveta for men's windsurfing RS; Yancy Kaibigan for Windsurfing RS:X (9.5m); and the Philippine team composed of Joel Mejarito, Ridgely Balladares, Rubin Cruz, Jr., Whok Dimapilis, Richly Magsanay, and Edgar Villapaña for mixed keelboat match racing.

Athletics chipped in two golds in the medal rush as Melvin Calano and Clinton Kingsley Bautista ruled the men's javelin throw and 110m hurdles.

Dennis Orcollo added another gold from billiards.

Sibol, the national esports team, did not take Thailand lightly and forced the Dota2 best-of-five series until the end to cop the gold medal.

The national men's basketball team Gilas Pilipinas showed might anew when they played Indonesia to march on to the finals.

The women's volleyball team also fought until the end with their five-set match against Indonesia, but fell short in the bronze medal match.

Gold medals from other big games are still at stake on Tuesday, with two basketball golds within the Philippines' reach. Meanwhile, the men's volleyball team will fight for history in their gold medal match. —JST, GMA News