With only 5 bronzes, SEAG bets fall to 8th
FILIPINO light flyweight Mark Barriga (blue) tags Malaysia’s Mohd Faud Mohd Reuvan with a left to the face in their semifinal clash. RAFFY LERMA
NAYPYITAW—The boxers and the men’s basketball team provided the only ray of hope on a dry Philippine harvest of just five bronze medals Friday in the 27th Southeast Asian Games here.
Swimmers Jasmine Alkhaldi and Joshua Hall, wrestler Jason Balabal and pencak silat athletes Nerlyn Huinda and Clyde Joy Baria accounted for the bronze medals as the Philippines tumbled to eighth overall in the 11-country competition with three gold, five silver and nine bronze medals.
Alkhaldi, who was stripped of the gold after a narrow victory in the women’s 100-meter freestyle on Thursday, competed in the re-swim ordered by Myanmar organizers last night but could only finish third.
She clocked 56.63 seconds behind gold winner Natthanan Thunkrajang (56.23) of Thailand and Singapore’s Ting Wen Quah (56.60).
The 20-year-old London Olympian earlier defeated Ting and Singaporean Xiang Qi Lim before Thai officials cried a false start and lodged a protest, which was later upheld by the technical officials.
Hall touched the wall in 1:03.32 of the men’s 100m breaststroke after Thai Radomyos Matjuir (1:03.06) and Indra Gunawan (1:03.18) of Indonesia.
Jessie Khing Lacuna, another London Olympian, could only managed fifth in the men’s 100m free while Filipino-American Matt Louis Navata checked in fourth in the 200m individual medley finals (2:05.44) won by Singaporean Joseph Schooling, who set a new Games record of 2:00.82..
London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga led the march of five more boxers into the finals after pulling off a 30-27, 28-29, 30-27 split decision win over Malaysian Mohd Faud Mohd Reuvan.
Also making it into the gold-medal round were bantam Mario Fernandez, lightweight Junel Cantancio, lightwelter Dennis Galvan and welter Wilfredo Lopez as the Filipino boxers remained on track to surpass their production of four golds in 2011 Indonesia.
Female pugs Nesthy Petecio and Josie Gabuco advanced to the finals on Saturday.
Out of six male boxers, only flyweight Rey Saludar failed to advance, falling to Myanmar’s Mg Nge by unanimous decision.
Myanmar remained ahead overall with a gold-silver-bonze tally of 26-25-21 but Vietnam (22-13-19) now posed a threat while Indonesia moved up to third (21-25-18) ahead of Thailand (21-25-17) and Malaysia (10-7-22).
Singapore surged ahead at fifth through victories in swimming (8-7-15) and Cambodia dislodged the Philippines from seventh with a 4-6-11 medal collection. The Philippines seemed headed to its worst finish since 1977 after ending up sixth overall two years ago.
Overpowered by Indonesia’s Fahrjansyah, Jason Balabal settled for the bronze in the men’s 84 kg freestyle. Balabal’s defeat deprived the Filipino wrestlers of a gold in the Games as they ended up with two silvers and four bronzes.
Fahrjansyah beat Balabal, 10-2, by technical superiority.
Pencak silat fighters Nerlyn Huinda (women’s 55-60 kg) and Clyde Joy Baria (women’s 70-75 kg) also settled for bronze medals after losing to their Indonesian foes at the Zayar Thiri Stadium.
Kevin Ferrer scored 23 and Jake Pascual added 15 as unbeaten Sinag Pilipinas moved two games away from clinching the country’s 16th men’s basketball crown with a 100-68 rout of Thailand.
The women’s football team, known as the Malditas, got manhandled by Vietnam, 7-0, and tumbled out of the medal race.
Karateka Orencio James Delos Santos, mountain bike specialist Nino Surban, lifter Jeffrey Garcia and paddlers Hermie Macaranas and Alex Generalo didn’t figure well in their events.
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