2 gold medals light bleak day for RP at SEA Games

Rower Benjie Tolentino and pool player Rubilen Amit lighted a bleak Sunday for Team Philippines at the 24th Southeast Asian Games being held in Thailand by winning a gold medal each. The 6-foot-2 Tolentino struck first, retaining his lightweight singles sculls title by simply following Lithuanian coach Rolandas Kazlauskas' gameplan at the Mab Pratchat Reservoir in Pattaya City, a report from the Philippine delegation said. "Sabi ni coach huwag masyadong seryoso, baka ma-rattle lang. Kaya, ayun, 'yung mga nauna sa akin mga nagsitukod. Ako naman kumana ako ng kumana nang makakita ako ng tyansa," said Tolentino, who paired with Jose Rodriguez in topping the men's double sculls Saturday. He negotiated the 2-kilometer course in seven minutes and 12.02 seconds, more than seven seconds ahead of Thailand's Pantangthai Piyadanai and another five seconds over third placer Jamaluddin Jamaluddin of Indonesia. Amit, at just a shade over five feet, was equally impressive in beating Angeline Magdalena Ticoalu of Indonesia, 7-5, in the finals at the Sima Thani Hotel Grand Ballroom to become a repeat champion like Tolentino. "I felt like a first-timer kaya meron ding kaba," Amit admitted. "Pero gusto ko lang po talagang manalo para sa bansa, kaya concentrate lang sa laro." Amit also topped the 8-ball pool singles two years ago in Manila. Although the two golds pale in comparison to the Filipino athletes' 11-gold haul Saturday, Team RP still remained in fourth overall with a 16-25-43 gold-silver-bronze count, seven gold medals behind third-placer Singapore. Hope for third In the horizon remains many possible sources of more golds that should help the Philippines, the 2005 overall SEA Games champ, to get to at least third place. Willy Wang still paces wushu's three-event nanquan, padding his overnight lead over second-running Vietnam's Quoc Khanh Pham from .04 to .10 points with a 9.53 in the nandao (southern broadsword). Pedro Quina is in fifth with an 18.64 total. Teammate Benjie Rivera overcame Myanmar's Than Maung Maung to make the under 56-kilogram finals of wushu's sanshou. Coming close but not quite were the pair of Nida Cordova and Midelle Gabiligno in the double sculls rowing event and triathletes George Vilog and Alessandra Araullo. They brought in 3 silver medals. Wushu teammates Janice Hung and Daniel Parantac landed only a bronze each in the two-event taijiquan and taiji (short sword), respectively, while Doha Asiad winner Rene Catalan got knocked out by Khwanyuen Chanthra in their sanshou 52-kilogram semis. Also finishing in third were Eduardo Buenavista and Jho Ann Banayag in the men's and women's marathon, Marites Bitbit in cycling's individual time trial, Rodriguez in the singles sculls, triathletes Arland Macasieb and Ma. Meliza Lucas, wrestler Margarito Argana (55kg), flyweight Roland Claro in muay thai's 51kg class and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz (58kg). The dance sports pairs, which opened up with two golds Saturday, only brought three silvers and three bronzes as the Thai' pairs scooped up all the last five golds at stake at the Vongchavalitkul University Hall. Boxer Bill Vicente Vicera was stopped by a Thai boxer with an apt-sounding name – Kaeo Pongprayoon – at the 1:45 mark of the third round of their pinweight semifinals. Staying alive But there other RP bets who remained alive. In boxing, Annie Albania stopped Myanmar's Hninn El Swe at the 2:00 mark of the fourth round to enter the flyweight finals, followed a little later by bantamweight Jouveliet Chilem, 12-0 winner over Myanmar's Hninn Mo Mo. The male boxers' charge was led by flyweight Godfrey Castro, whose two-fisted attack resulted in a referee-stopped beating of Malaysian Mohammad Ali Abdul Karim. Pencak silat's Jayrashly Kiram also made it to the semifinals of the men's over-80-kilogram class after beating Myanmar's Zay Mwo Win, 3-0. That somehow made up for the elimination of teammates Marniel Dimla (men's under 75 kg), Edwin Simacon (under 80 kg), Nerlyn Huinda and Abdurasad Adzhar (under-60 kg) and Emmanuel Baesa (under-65 kg). Archers Mark Javier and Marvin Cordero both advanced to the recurve quarterfinals and so did Amaya Paz and Jennifer Chan in the compound. The water polo team rebounded from a 3-7 loss to perennial champion Singapore Saturday with a 20-9 whitewashing of Indonesia, improving its win-loss record to 2-1. The RP "Sons of Lapu-Lapu" rugby team trounced Laos 40-0 to bounce back from a 17-22 loss to Singapore in the event's opening match earlier. The men's lightweight four rowing crew wound up fifth and next-to-last, Victor Espiritu fifth in the men's ITT, and Marcelito Pancho was fifth and last in petanque's shooting. Team Philippines can still gain more ground. There are a total 55 golds at stake Monday, the bulk coming from wushu (13), gymnastics (10), athletics (9) and swimming (6). - GMANews.TV