Top skater, cyclist out as PH SEAG team gets trimmed by injuries

Figure skater Samantha Mary Lynn Cabiles begged off from her national team duties and track cyclist Kristian Emmanuel Reyes got injured in a crash, reducing the Philippine delegation to the 29th Southeast Asian Games to 493 athletes in 37 sports.

Citing health reasons, Cabiles has decided to skip the women’s individual figure ice skating event while Reyes won’t be suiting up either after getting hurt in a spill while training in South Korea.

“Well, our skater is a potential gold medalist, so we’re minus one possible gold without her,” said Philippine chief of mission Cynthia Carrion, referring to Cabiles.

Based in Michigan, the 20-year-old Cabiles placed 14th in the short program during the 2017 Asian Winter Games, 16th in the free skate and 15th overall.

According to Philippine Cycling Federation deputy secretary general Camille Sumagui, Reyes was brought to a hospital in Seoul to determine the extent of the injury, striking the Filipino cyclist out of next week’s Kuala Lumpur Games for good.

Reyes and Mervin Barnachea Corpuz are the only Filipino entries in cycling track, which offers 12 gold medals. National coach Carlo Jazul said they signed up for the track scratch/track omnium event.

Alternate gymnasts Rachele Arellano (women’s artistic) and Adrian Mirasol Apuyan (men’s artistic) were earlier pulled out from the delegation by Carrion, also president of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines.

Sailor Ridgely Balladares, who won a gold in the men’s keelboat match racing in 2015 Singapore, was also entered as an alternate to Lester Troy Tayong and Emerson Villena in the international 470 event and was scratched from the lineup.

Carrion is expecting a turnout of at least 50 gold medals for the Philippines to improve on its previous finish of sixth place among 11 countries.

“I hope there will be no more injuries. Let’s pray for the safety of our athletes,” said Carrion, a board member of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

The POC originally submitted a total of 498 Filipino athletes to KL organizers.

Arellano was supposed to compete in the floor, vault, uneven bar and balance beam while Apuyan will be tested in the high bar, parallel bars, vault, ring, floor and pommel horse.