Saving the day

Anthony Beram wins 200m dash. Photo from @KL2017/MASOC

KUALA LUMPUR—The golden faucet was running dry for Team Philippines on Wednesday.

But late gold medals from athletics and a huge win by Gilas Pilipinas over the hosts allowed the delegation to heave a sigh of relief in the 29th Southeast Asian Games here.

Anthony Beram clocked 20.84 seconds to rule the men’s 200 meters, erasing the sting of Eric Cray’s defeat in the centerpiece century dash a day before.

Aris Toledo, meanwhile, scooped up the decathlon gold as athletics continued to lead the country’s hunt for victories in this biennial meet.

Before the twin victories, Gilas Pilipinas, the basketball squad that is practically guaranteed the gold medal here, crushed Malaysia, 98-66.

And later in the evening, its women’s counterpart, Perlas Pilipinas, eked out a morale-boosting 69-67 thriller over Thailand.

The victories spared the Philippines from a dry outing on a day when 45 gold medals were at stake.

The country almost won three golds—one each in athletics, gymnastics and karatedo—but sundown came with no victories to show for the Filipino contingent.

Marco Vilog placed second in the men’s 800-meter run at Bukit Jalil National Stadium, behind Vietnam’s Duong Van Than. Malaysia’s Royson Al Vincent was third, and another Filipino Marvin Guarte placed fourth.

The hope for a gold was hinged on Fil-Am Kayla Richardson, but she crashed out of the podium in the women’s 200m.

But as fate would have it, Beram and Toledo rushed in to save the day.

The 23-year-old Toledo tallied 7,433 points to rule the decathlon at Bukit Jalil National Stadium, defeating Thailand’s Suttisak Singkon, who tallied 7,411, and Vietnam’s Bui Van Su, who managed 6,737.

Beram, meanwhile, bested Jirapong Meenapra of Thailand (21.22 seconds) and Malaysia’s Thevarr Gunasegaran (21.26 seconds).

The Philippines still lagged at sixth place in the medal standings with a 10-14-19 gold-silver-bronze medal tally.

Earlier in the day, Kaitlin de Guzman yielded the gold to a flashier Malaysian defending champion in the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise at MITEC Hall 9.

The 17-year-old from Texas also gained another bronze in balance beam to become the most productive member of Team Philippines so far.

Later, John Paul Bejar lost to an Indonesian foe (10-4) despite taking an early 3-1 lead in the
-55 kilogram kumite finals at KLCC.

Earlier, Reymark Capellan, the men’s floor exercise gold medalist last Tuesday, placed third in vault.

Four-time hammer throw champion Arniel Ferrera, yanked out from coaching duties to participate as a late substitute, managed to salvage a bronze at Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

Karatedo also produced two bronzes through Mae Soriano in women’s kumite -55kg and Junna Tsukii in women’s -50kg division.

Swimming hope Jasmine AlKhaldi, meanwhile, only managed to cough up two bronzes from the pool. She placed third in both women’s 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly.