2ND PH GOLD: Orcollo, Kiamco finish 1-2

GUANGZHOU—You can say this much about Team Philippines: It rarely strikes gold, but when it does, it throws in a little bonus.

Dennis Orcollo capped a gold-silver finish by the country in men’s 9-ball singles of billiards, a feat that Warren Kiamco half-guaranteed and then backed with a solid performance Thursday in the 16th Asian Games here.

The twin medals boosted the Philippines’ meager medal haul to two golds, one silver and four bronzes. The other gold came courtesy of Biboy Rivera in men’s singles of bowling, one that came with a bronze through Frederick Ong.

Team Philippines also saw its golf hopes raised even higher by fairway wunderkind Miguel Tabuena, who fired a second straight 68 that kept him on top of the  the men’s individual race at the punishing Dragon Lake Golf Club.

And then later in the day, boxing chipped in two smashing victories, with the Saludar brothers Rey and Vic totally outclassing their first round rivals in their respective divisions.

China continued to steamroll through the medal pile, garnering 109 gold medals that looks unsinkable at this point—it looked that way actually the day the delegation showed up for the Games.

In the battle for second, Korea (35-30-40) continues to lead Japan (21-45-38).

The Philippines trails only Malaysia (3-3-4) in the battle among Southeast Asian nations. Singapore (1-4-2), Thailand (1-3-10), Indonesia (1-3-8) and Vietnam (0-9-10) are still behind the country in the gold count.

The pool medals were sealed as early as the semifinals, when Orcollo and Kiamco brushed off their challengers in contrasting fashions to arrange an all-Filipino showdown for the 9-ball crown.

“It didn’t matter anymore who won,” Orcollo, who defeated Kiamco, 9-7, in the finals, said in Filipino. “The country got a gold and a silver and Warren and I are very happy with our achievement.”

The country also finished 1-2 in the same event in Doha four years ago with Antonio Gabica beating Jeffrey De Luna for the gold.

In basketball, the Smart Gilas five bounced back from 65-48 rout from Asian champion Iran a day earlier to clobber Qatar, 90-68, for its first victory in the second round Wednesday night.

The Nationals will go up tonight against a Japanese five that nipped Iran, 57-56, also Wednesday.

“Double Saludar, double happiness,” said boxing association executive director Ed Picson as the Filipinos scored a third win following the loss of top medal hope Charly Suarez Tuesday.

The boxing victories tempered the gloom in the other side of combat sports, where taekwondo—also tagged as a medal favorite in these Games—suffered losses after opening with promising victories.

Marlon Avenido opened with a victory in the men’s under 80 kg over Brunei’s Hamad Wadee Khalil, 7-3. He tickled the delegation’s fancy with a close 12-11 victory over Afghanistan’s Nesar Ahmad Bahawi to reach the quarterfinals, just a win short of the podium.

But he lost to Saudi Arabia’s Hani Almuitrafi, 10-9, in the semifinals.

 Jade Zafra also breezed past her first opponent, Chinese Taipei’s Tseng Yi Hsuan, 12-1, but got waylaid by Korean Kwon Eun Kyung, 15-6, in the quarterfinals.

In shooting, Hagen Topacio was third with 72 points on the first day of trap qualification to stay a point behind Libyan Jose Salem (73). Compatriot Jethro Dionisio was 21st in the field of 37 with 65.

In the men’s 50m three-position for rifle qualifications, Jayson Valdez was in 36th place with 9.308 average after four series.

Rey Saludar wasted no time in ending the Asiad experience of Bhutan’s Kinley Gyeltshen, forcing a referee stopped contest by knockout with 1:26 left in the first round. Saludar, who dropped his foe with a right straight, was leading, 5-0, when the referee waved off the fight.

Before that, he nailed Gyelthshen with two lefts that forced a mandatory standing 8-count in their flyweight (52 kg) bout.

Brother Vic added to the sibling streak, dominating Malaysian Muhammad Fuad Mohd Redzuan in a one-sided light flyweight (49 kg) tussle, 8-1, to also make it to the next round.           

In golf, the 16-year-oldTabuena again asserted his control over a challenging course, flaunting the same uncanny—for his age—patience that he flaunted en route to Wednesday’s 68 that gave him the first round lead.

“Miguel is the story of this tournament,” said men’s coach Tommy Manotoc. “He’s playing really mature for his age. He simply went for the fairways and for the greens and simply made those putts drop.”
 
Tabuena’s heroics kept the Filipinos in second place in the team race  as Jerson Balasabas carded a 74 and either one of the 75 of Mark Fernando and Carlos Marcel Puyat counted.