Table tennis ace Gonzales fans SEAG gold hopes

SINGAPORE—Richard Gonzales was already in his prime when his Indonesian foe was still struggling to hold a table tennis paddle.

The 44-year-old Cebuano hardly showed his age in outlasting the hard-smashing Ficky Santoso, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 12-10, Tuesday to move closer to the semifinals in men’s singles of the 28th Southeast Asian Games at the Singapore Indoor Stadium here.

Known for his defense, Gonzales’ resilience was tested to the hilt after Santoso, 24, rallied from two frames down to force a deciding set.

The Filipino bronze medalist in the 2013 World Sand Paper Championship in London then shifted to attack and erased a 7-9 deficit.

Gonzales’ performance further lifted the spirits of the Nationals, who received an additional $200 allowance from Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia, raising their total allowance here to $500.

Up next for Gonzales, the men’s singles silver medalist in 2005 in Manila, is Vietnam’s Quynh Tuan Tran.

In women’s singles, Singapore’s Feng Tianwei finished off Ian Lariba, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2, while Sendrina Balatbat fell to Hoang Trang Mai of Vietnam, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6.

Gonzales also won with Rodel Valle in men’s doubles but they dropped their next game to Singaporeans Chen Feng and Chew Zhe Yu.

The PH mixed doubles duo of Ryan Rodney Jacolo and Balatbat bowed to Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut and Padasak Tanviriyavechakul, 12-10, 11-3, 11-3.

Meanwhile, the country’s dolorous netball campaign continued with another rout from Myanmar even as the synchronized swimming bets struggled in the preliminary duet.

The PH netballers took a third straight loss to Myanmar, 56-31.

Over at OCBC Aquatics Arena, Allyssa Salvador and Jimimah Tiambeng wound up eighth and last in the preliminaries.