Pilipinas Ultimate looks primed for the SEA Games.
The Philippine ultimate frisbee contingent are coming home as perhaps the biggest winners at the recently concluded Asia-Oceanic Ultimate Championship 2025, striking two golds– Mixed and Mixed Masters– in the highly competitive four-division regional meet held in Kamisu City, Japan last September 3 to 7, 2025.
For five days, the national team slugged it out against the region’s cream of the crop, with more than 1200 athletes from 13 participating countries gathering for the 2025 edition of the World Flying Disc Federation-organized championship.
TWIN GOLDS
In the Mixed division’s gold medal game, the Philippine team left their Southeast Asian foes from Singapore in the dust, 14-6, led by Marc Butil’s two goals and two assists.
John Sacapaño also chipped in three dimes and a goal, while Ma. Angelique Cortez and Yvonne Lamigo each had three markers.
Meanwhile, in the Mixed Masters finals, Alamat Pilipinas proved to be too much against Japan, 15-10, anchored on a strong second half outing that sealed the win for the national team.
John Paul Bade steered Alamat’s title-clinching performance with three goals and two assists, supported by Don Mariano Alajas’ five dishes.
Naritess Buaron, Reichelle Carlos, and Ma. Inulli Chaluyan also contributed two goals apiece.
The Mixed team capped off their stellar campaign at the five-day regional meet with an unblemished 8-0 record, while the Mixed Masters squad won all seven games without losing a match.
Pilipinas Ultimate’s men’s team– the 2023 AOUC kings and erstwhile reigning champs in the open division– fought valiantly but ultimately fell to a 7th place finish, while the all-women Binibinis placed 10th.
PRIMED FOR SEA GAMES
Ultimate frisbee– set for a much-anticipated debut at the Southeast Asian Games this coming December– will only include the Mixed Division, and only as a demonstration sport.
Pilipinas Ultimate’s twin golds are therefore a massive and necessary boost to their SEAG campaign where they are primed to be one of the competition’s toughest contenders.
In fact, the sport’s inclusion at the regional meet was one of the national team’s north stars when they prepared for the Asia-Oceanic clash.
In an earlier exclusive interview with GMA Regional TV News, head coach for Pilipinas Ultimate’s Mixed Team Felix Angue talked about the significance of the SEA Games as a coagulating incentive for national athletes to partake at the AOUC.
“We managed to get everybody to buy into the system from Day 1, and I will probably connect that with our goalpost, specifically for the Mixed Team. The goalpost for this year is the inclusion of the flying disc in the SEA Games,” he told GMA RTV News.
“It is the first time that the sport is making it to the SEA Games– that's one of the other things that allowed us to get people’s buy-in sa program, kasi there's that potential for us to finally make it mainstream,” Angue added.
Angue also believes that a stellar showing at the upcoming SEA Games will be a major step in the right direction of finally going mainstream– a prerequisite to increased visibility, better sponsorships, and generous funding.
“Admitted kami na hindi pa mainstream ang sport namin, so we are thinking that our inclusion in the SEA Games is one step towards [being] mainstream. If we do very well, that will mean the opening of opportunities for our Pilipinas Ultimate athletes going forward,” he said.
