SEA Games: Philippine men’s baseball, rowing teams strike gold

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine men’s baseball team, which bucked funding woes to get to Indonesia, delivered a gold medal for the country in the 26th Southeast Asian Games.

The baseball squad bucked adversity and raced to a 2-0 win over Indonesia in the finals Sunday behind an overall effort and clutch pitching from ace Darwin de la Calzada.

The Filipino clouters almost didn’t make it to the biennial competition because of lack of funding from the Philippine Sports Commission. They were only given the green light after a businessman, Marty Eizmendi, came to the rescue of the team.

Meanwhile, the Philippine dragonboat team also caught gold in the 20-man crew for the 500 meter traditional boat race with a time of 01:53.950.

The Filipino rowers edged Myanmar (01:54.120) and Thailand (01:56.210) for the title and also settled for silver in the standard men’s 500m race.

Alfie Catalan toppled his Indonesian rivals and claimed the 4000m individual pursuit title for the gold medal in cycling.

In weightlifting, Hidilyn Diaz took home the silver in the 58kg women’s category, which brought the Philippines’ medal haul as of 7 p.m. Sunday at 25-45-63 (gold, silver, bronze).