NAYPYITAW—World champion Josie Gabuco, London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga and bantam Mario Fernandez quenched the thirst for gold medals with boxing victories Saturday as the Philippines began a difficult climb out of the pits halfway through the 27th Southeast Asian Games here.
Gabuco, the reigning pinweight champion, punched her way to a majority decision victory over Indonesian Beatrix Suguru, 40-36, 40-36, 38-all, in the finals of the women’s light flyweight division.
Barriga, a 20-year-old southpaw from Panabo City, Davao del Sur, scored a convincing win over Indonesia’s Konelis Langu, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, for the men’s light flyweight gold, while Fernandez nailed the third gold with a unanimous win over Donchai Tathi of Thailand, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28.
Ramon Antonio Franco added to the country’s gold tally after downing Brunei’s Fidaly Sanif Mae, 8-6, in the men’s -55kg kumite in karate.
Franco, part of the team kumite that brought home the silver in Indonesia, was training in Iran when Supertyphoon “Yolanda” whipped hit his hometown Tacloban City.
After a dry harvest the last two days, Team Philippines moved ahead of Cambodia to seventh overall with seven golds, nine silvers and 15 bronzes.
The Filipinos also have a sure gold in men’s basketball after blasting Indonesia, 83-52. They go for a sweep against Malaysia Sunday with an unlikely loss still not enough to deprive them of the title since they had already beaten the second-running Thais by a big margin.
While Gabuco, who clinched a third SEA Games crown, offered her victory to victims of the recent spate of disasters that struck the country, Nesthy Petecio could only shake her head in disbelief after falling to a nasty hometown decision in the women’s featherweight division.
Petecio dominated Myanmar’s Nwe Ni Oo for three rounds but the referee raised the hand of the Burmese after the fight to the delight of the crowd at the packed Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium here.
The 2013 China Open champion showed her displeasure by flexing her muscles at the center of the ring while Oo jumped for joy.
Joining Petecio in the silver tally was world women’s 10-ball champion Rubilen Amit, who faltered against Angeline Magdaena of Indonesia, 7-2, in the 9-ball finals.
Lighter welterweight Dennis Galvan and middleweight Wilfredo Lopez also settled for silvers as the Filipino boxers came a gold short of matching their output two years ago.
Lopez lost to Myanmar’s Wailin Aung in a bout the was stopped by a ring doctor. Lopez looked in control of the bout until the time of stoppage, which drew jeers from the crowd.
After Thailand’s Wuttichai Masuk took the title from Galvan, the 2011 champion via a 27-30, 26-30, 27-30 win.
Indonesia finally dislodged the host country with 30 golds, 37 silvers and 30 bronzes. Burma (Myanmar), the leader from Day 1, has a 30-29-28 collection.
Thailand was third (29-29-28), Vietnam fourth (29-23-28) and Malaysia fifth (16-10-29).
Singapore was still ahead of the Philippines as of 8 p.m. (9:30 p.m. Manila time) with a hoard of 10-10-16.
Flyweight Maricris Igam settled for the bronze after dropping her semifinal encounter with Sopida Satumrum of Thailand in women’s boxing.
Grandmaster Joey Antonio could only place third in the men’s chess international blitz after losing to Nguyen Van Huy of Vietnam in the tiebreak.
Vietnamese Nguyen Ngoc Truongson grabbed the gold with 13 points in 14 games while Van Huy and Antonio wound up with 11.
Visibly not in her element, Iris Rañola dropped her opening match, 4-7, opposite Magdalena and dropped out of the tournament for good.