At the SEA Games Episode 5: Gold at last

By: Aeron Valderrama, Aldo Tong, and Matthew Li

After the glittering opening ceremony, the action in the 28th Southeast Asian Games went into full-swing Saturday, June 6. The day started with a glittering gold medal for the country and ended with a variety of results.

Here is how our Team Philippines fared in the first official day of the biennial.

Triathlon: Adorna clinches PH first gold

With high hopes going into the SEA Games, the women triathletes met expectations as they finished 1-2 at the end of the competitions in East Coast Park.

University of the Philippines alumna Maria Claire Adorna went out of the water in first with an 18:45 split, followed closely by Thailand’s Arunsiri Sanruthai at 18:57. The other Filipina Kim Mangrobang was at third with 20:19. Mangrobang had problems in the swim-to-bike transition, dropping her to fourth.

In the end, Adorna never looked back and ran away with the win and the delegation’s first gold of the Games with a time of 2:13:08. Mangrobang recovered in the bike and run legs to annex the silver for the country, finishing at 2:14:26. Arunsiri rounded up the podium, taking the finish line, 9 minutes after Adorna.

Shooting: Baking and Dela Cruz falter

In the first event of the petanque competitions in Padang, our bowlers Arvin Baking and Victoria Dela Cruz, failed to make it to the medal rounds.

Baking started well finishing with a score of 28 after the shooting round, which was good for third place. Dela Cruz, on her part, registered 9 after the same round, to finish last in the field. With just 15 points in the barrage round, Baking dug a deep hole that was not enough for him to move on to the medal round. Dela Cruz did not make it in the women’s shooting semifinals scoring 11 in the barrage phase.

Softball: Blu Boys and Girls dominate

The reigning kings and queens of the diamond, the RP Blu Boys and Blu Girls, started their gold-medal campaigns on a good note at the Kallang Softball Field. The women’s team blanked Indonesia, 6-0, in their lone match of the day. On the other hand, the men defeated Thailand, 8-1, in their first game.

Gymnastics: Gymnasts progress to the next stage

At the Bishan Sports Hall, the Philippines’ male gymnasts finished fifth in the team event with a score of 278.500. However, several athletes move on to the individual all-around and apparatus final events in the team event doubles as individual qualifications.

Rafael Ablaza III and Jan Gwynn Timbang moves on to the individual all-around finals with Ablaza scoring73.850 in the qualifications, while Timbang registering 71.650. Two gymnasts from each country moved on to the apparatus finals as well. Reyland Capellan had 14.400 and Ablaza, 13.850, to advance to the floor exercise medal rounds. Capellan’s strong vault of 14.600 powered him into the finals in that event. Ablaza also notched slots as reserve in rings, vault, horizontal bars, and parallel bars.

Rugby: Volcanoes erupt in Day 1

The men’s and women’s rugby teams finished with contrasting fates during the first day of the two-day competition over at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium.

In their SEAG debut, the Lady Volcanoes edged Laos in their first game off the offense of Aiumi Ono who scored all of the team’s 17 points. In the afternoon, a strong Thailand team overpowered the girls, 36-0. The Thais scored on six tries and converted half of them to register the final score.

On the other hand, the projected gold-medalists Volcanoes, moved closer to clinching that mint after winning three of their matches in the preliminary round. The men’s team dispatched 2007 SEAG champions Thailand, 24-10, before pulling off a 17-0 victory against the hosts Singapore. The 2013 Rugby Sevens World Cup participants ended their day undefeated with a whopping 55-0 win over Cambodia.

Fencing: Tinio adds bronze to medal haul

The women’s foil team led by individual silver medalist Justine Gail Tinio moved on to the semifinals after dismanting Malaysia, 45-32. The men’s sabre and epee teams were not as fortunate, however, as their journey was cut short at the quarterfinals.

The Malaysians took revenge against the Philippines in the men’s sabre, winning 45-30. The Nationals’ epeeists kept their match close and even led 32-30 with two bouts remaining. Thailand then pushed for the win and ended the country’s gold medal hopes in the event, 45-40.

In the semifinals, Tinio and company stuck with the hosts led by gold medallist Wang Wenying but ultimately lost the match, 28-36. With the defeat, the Filipino fencers pocketed another medal – a bronze – a day before they end their campaign here in the city-state.

Boxing: National team goes 3-0 in Day 1 of the tournament

Three Filipinos competed in the opening day of the amateur boxing tournament of the 28th SEA Games. The event was held in the Singapore EXPO Hall 1. The day featured Josie Gabuco, Irish Magno, and Ian Clark Bautista competing in the preliminaries of the women’s light flyweight (45-48kg.), women’s flyweight (48-51kg.), and men’s flyweight (49-52kg.) respectively.

The 2012 World Women’s Lightweight Boxing Champion, Josie Gabuco, soundly defeated Indonesia’s Aldriana Suguro in the opening bout of the tournament. Gabuco outpointed Suguro in all three rounds to advance in the tournament. Gabuco will face Singapore’s Leona Hui in the semifinals on June 8, 2015 at 2:00pm.

The 23-year old Irish Magno also had an excellent outing in her women’s flyweight bout against Indonesia’s Novita Sinadia. The match went into the scorecards with Magno winning all three rounds in the eyes of the judges. With the win, Magno moves on to the semifinals and will square-off against Thailand’s Sopida Satumrum at 2:45pm on June 8.

In the final match for the Filipino’s in the day, 20-year old Ian Clark Bautista outclassed Muhammad Azuwan Mohd Nar in the flyweight division. Clark won via a unanimous decision in sweeping all three rounds to move on to the round of 16. Bautista will again compete today, June 7 in the quarterfinals and will face Thai boxer Chatchai Butdee.

Judo: Filipino judoka settle for bronzes

It was a difficult day for the touted judoka as they suffered losses along the way and ended up scouring bronze medals in Day 1 of competitions at EXPO Hall 2.

Jennielou Mosqueda moved on to the semifinals of women’s -57 kg category over Laotian Manivanh Baiyan. On the other hand, veterans Dennis Catipon (-66 kg) and Glibert Ramirez (-73) lost their quarterfinals matches and went to the consolation bracket. Catipon lost to Baiyan’s compatriot Soukpaxhay Sithisane, while Ramirez lost to Masayuki Terada of Thailand. Moving on to the men’s -81 kg, Fil-Jap Kodo Nakano advanced to gold medal contention after his opponent Chittakone Xayasan was called for a shido. In the women’s -52, Helen Dawa defeated Intan Mahathir of Malaysia in the same stage of the competition.

The winning judoka suffered losses in the semifinals, whereas the quarterfinal losers bounced back. In the end, Ramirez and Dawa won the bronze medals in their respective categories. The two veterans outclassed Danh Ut Kien of Vietnam and Ni Virgynia to collect the country’s first medals in the sport.

Swimming: UAAP MVP Jessie Lacuna falls short of podium by :00.09

At the Men’s side, Thai Hoàng Quý Phước established a SEA Games record in the Men’s 200m Freestyle by clocking in at 1:48.96 enroute to defending his title. Hometown favorite Zhen Wen Quah of Singapore was only able to manage 1:49.17 while Welson Wee Sheng Sim (1:50.73) of Malaysia narrowly edged Jessie Khing Lacuna (1:50.82) of the Philippines by :00.09 seconds to round out the podium. Lacuna established a personal best in this event.

Rounding out the evening session was the Women’s 400m Freestyle Relay where the team of Singapore lead most of the way clocking 3:46.60. Thailand touched next at 3:49.62 while Indonesia (3:53.18) battled with the Philippines’ Hannah Dato (58.51), Roxanne Ashley Yu (59.76), Elizabeth Ann Jordana (59.30) and Jasmine Alkhaldi (56.00) to enter the podium but the late rally of Alkhaldi fell short. The Philippines wound up with a time of 3:53.57.

The Filipino tankers who saw action in Day 1 of Swimming in SEA Games 2015 did not land in the podium, most of them established personal best times, some even Philippine national records.

Below is a complete list of the swimmers from the Philippines with their times:

Round-up: Philippines in 7th place in medal tally