Thailand rules SEA Games anew; Philippines 6th

SINGAPORE—While history beckons for the host country, it was just another day at the office for overall champion Thailand.

For the second straight time, the kingdom ruled the Southeast Asian Games here with a variety of medals across all sports.

The Thais, who also won the 2013 Burma (Myanmar) edition, claimed the biggest prize of them all for the seventh straight time in the 11-country meet since 1977 with a total collection of 87 gold, 83 silver and 64 bronze medals.

They also ruled the SEA Peninsular Games, the forerunner of the SEAG, six times beginning 1959.

Medal-rich athletics (17 golds), shooting (14), petanque (6), tennis (5), traditional boat race (5), canoeing (4) and golf (4) emerged as a veritable gold mine for the Thais with a sprinkling of victories in judo (3) and pencak silat (3), among others.

Singapore, meanwhile, has more than achieved the 50-gold target it has set for itself, which coincides with the wealthy island-nation’s 50th anniversary of independence.

They grabbed 82 gold, 72 silver and 98 bronze medals built on the 23 victories in swimming, 10 in sailing, seven in canoeing, six in table tennis and wushu and five in shooting. Swimmer Joseph Schooling of Singapore ended up as the athlete with the most medals in the two-week sportsfest with nine golds.

Vietnam wound up third with a haul of 73 golds, 51 silvers and 56 bronzes followed by Malaysia (59-53-65), Indonesia (45-55-69) and the Philippines (28-35-64). Burma, second overall when it played host two years ago, came up seventh (11-24-30). CFC