‘Hungry’ Tinio nets 1st silver for PH in SEA Games

Justine Gail Tinio. Photo by Raffy Lerma/INQUIRER

SINGAPORE—Fencer Justine Gail Tinio practically satisfied her hunger by capturing the first silver medal for the Philippines in the 28th Southeast Asian Games here.

Taller and faster, Singaporean Wenying Wang picked the smaller Tinio apart, 15-7, in the finals of the women’s individual foil.

READ: SEA Games: PH’s first medal is a silver in women’s foil fencing

“I’m sorry for not getting the gold,” said Tinio, last year’s UAAP MVP from the University of the East.

Skipping lunch due to the hectic competition schedule, the 19-year-old from Jaen, Nueva Ecija, was gasping for breath and was visibly spent throughout the medal round.

“All I had for the day was a piece of ham and an egg at breakfast and ate a piece of chicken curry late in the afternoon,” said Tinio.

“But I don’t mind. The silver (medal) was more than enough to satisfy my hunger.’’

On her first SEAG stint, Tinio plowed through the opposition with victories over a pair of Vietnamese in Thi Hoai Thu Nguyen in the semifinals and Thi Anh Do in the quarters.

She simply demolished the taller Nguyen, 15-6, to the cheers of a sizeable Filipino crowd at the OCBC Arena after a scrambling 15-11 triumph over Do in the quarters.

Tinio’s victory has finally put the Philippines on the medal board with Singapore off to a hot start with three golds in table tennis, one silver and three bronzes, two days prior to the formal opening of the Games.

Thailand is at second overall with one silver and three bronzes followed by Vietnam (three bronzes) and Malaysia with a solitary bronze.

Filipino table netter Richard Gonzales demolished Vietnam’s Tuan Quynh Tran, 11-3, 11-6, 15-13, to reach the medal round.