SEAG: Gonzales, Raguin settle for silvers

TOUCHÉ Filipino Justine Gail Tinio scores a point in a losing effort against Singaporean Wenying Wang (right) in the 28th SEA Games women’s individual foil finals on Wednesday night at QCBC Arena Hall 2, Singapore Sports Hub, National Stadium. Tinio settled for the silver medal. RAFFY LERMA

SINGAPORE—Fencer Harlene Raguin and paddler Richard Gonzales provided the shining moments with two silver medals Thursday night as the Philippines burst into the limelight of the 28th Southeast Asian Games here.

Gonzales saw his string of luck run out after Ning Gao stormed to victory, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, with a devastating display of power and consistency in men’s table tennis singles at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

“There’s no excuse. The Singaporeans are really good at this,” said Gonzales, duplicating his silver finish in the same event during the 2005 Manila Games.

At the nearby OCBC Arena, Raguin also seized another silver, increasing the haul of the 462-athlete Philippine delegation here to three silver medals and one bronze courtesy of Nathaniel Perez in the individual men’s foil.

Justine Gail Tinio, picked apart by Singapore’s Wenying Wang in the women’s individual foil finals, landed a silver Wednesday.

Within sight of the gold, Raquin came to grief after Vietnam’s Tran Ti Len suddenly altered her ploy to prevail, 11-7, and nail the gold in women’s epee.

The 32-year-old mother of two led in the first two rounds, lunging at Len’s neck without letup.

“She changed her strategy when I was up by three points. She began attacking the lower part of my body,” said Raquin, who also settled for the silver in the 2007 Thailand joust after defeating Len in the semifinals.

Gonzales partially broke through the Singaporean domination by outlasting Clarence Chew, 11-14, 10-12, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 12-10, in the semifinals and forging the finale with Gao.

The country closed out its maiden campaign in netball with another crushing defeat, this time against Brunei, 56-32.

And the Under-23 Azkals continued to be a disappointment as they took a 3-1 loss to Cambodia Wednesday night.

The second straight setback was a big blow to the Azkals in their bid to make the semifinals of the event as they now need to win all three remaining games in Group A to advance.

The new and untested netball team succumbed to reigning Asian champion and host Singapore, 82-12, Wednesday night. But at least it was better than the 112-11 defeat to defending champion Malaysia last Tuesday.

Singapore hiked its haul to six gold medals, four silvers and three bronzes. At second is Vietnam with two golds and five bronzes.