TAGAYTAY CITY, CAVITE — Reigning Asian Games champion Margielyn Didal and Daniel Ledermann secured gold in the women’s and men’s divisions respectively in the Game of S.K.A.T.E. in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, Thursday at the TICC Sigtuna Hall here.
Didal, who bested Nyimas Cinta of Indonesia before to enter the final stage, outclassed fellow Filipina Christiana Means in the gold medal match.
“It means a lot especially sa akin po, for our country, Pilipinas!” said the young Cebuano, moments after the victory.
Means, meanwhile, settled for a silver finish in the women’s division.
Didal opened her SEA Games campaign with a masterful performance against 12-year-old Thawdar Shin Thant of Myanmar. Meanwhile, Means ran through Singapore’s Nur Fara Atika Abdullahb in the preliminaries.
Though figuring in a rough start in their semis campaign, the Filipinas managed to score a come-from-behind win against their Indonesian foes. That then set up an all-Filipino war in the Finals.
On the other hand, Ledermann triumphed over Basral Hutomo of Indonesia to claim the gold medal in the men’s division.
The 24-year-old outperformed Suppapit Phetsuk of Thailand in the preliminaries. She topped Singapore’s Muhammad Feroze Abdula Rahman in the quarterfinals stage to enter the Final Four.
Ledermann marched into the finals with a victory over Vietnam’s Tien Son Nguyen earlier in the day.
Filipino skateboarder Jeffrey Gonzales fell out of contention after losing to Hutomo in the quarterfinals.
