Rowing bets eye four gold medals

SINGAPORE—Rower Nestor Cordova came back from the losers’ bracket to make it to the finals of the men’s 1,000-meter singles sculls Saturday in the 28th Southeast Asian Games.

The winner of the same event in 2011 Indonesia and 2013 Burma (Myanmar), the 37-year-old from Negros Occidental placed third in the repechage with a clocking of three minutes and 38.64 seconds at Marina Channel.

Thailand’s Prem Nampratueng topped the heats (3:33.69) over Vietnam’s Van Ha Nguyen  (3:34.95).

Another Filipino, Justine Vinas, also made it to the gold-medal race following a third-place finish (3:41.65) in the men’s 1,000m light sculls repechage.

“I think Nestor is reserving his energy for the finals race on Sunday,” said rowing president Benjie Ramos.

Sydney Olympian Benjie Tolentino and Edgar Ilas also advanced to the finals of the men’s 1,000m lightweight double sculls Monday as well as Alvin Amposta and Roque Abala Jr. in the men’s 1,000m open pairs.