Tough opposition drowns Filipino rowers’ dreams
SINGAPORE—There was no golden finish for rower Nestor Cordova this time in the Southeast Asian Games.
A champion in the two previous editions, Cordova relinquished his title to Indonesia’s Memo Memo, who clinched the gold medal in the men’s single sculls Sunday in the choppy Marina Channel here.
Memo, who lost to the Philippines’ top rower in both the 2011 Indonesia and 2013 Burma (Myanmar) Games, came back with a vengeance, clocking 3 minutes and 27.25 seconds—almost three seconds ahead of Cordova (3:30.47).
Placing third in the 1,000-meter race was Burma’s Aung Ko Min (3:31.65)
The Philippines also blew its golden shot in four other events.
The pre-Games favorite in the men’s lightweight doubles, Benjamin Tolentino and Edgar Ilas could only settle for the bronze (1:38.35) in the 1,000m event won by an Indonesian pair in 1:35.73.
The tandem of Alvin Amposta and Roque Abala came in fifth in the men’s 1,000m Open pairs won by Budi Santoso and Tanzil Hadid of Indonesia (3:15.58). Melcah Jen Caballero also finished fifth in 4:14.21 in the women’s single sculls light won by Thailand’s Phuttharaksa Neegree in a fast 3:55.27.
Justine Vinas settled for fourth place in the men’s lightweight single sculls (3:46.68), more than 10 seconds behind the clocking of Vietnamese winner Van Linh Nguyen (3:33.13).
