For the third straight Southeast Asian Games, the Philippines ruled the men’s doubles tennis event.
Nino Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales bucked a slow start, defeating Indonesia’s Christopher Rungkat and Nathan Barki, 2-6, 7-5, 10-5, in the final on Saturday at Morodok Techo National Stadium’s Tennis Arena in Cambodia.
This is the Philippines’ 36th gold of the games.
Back in 2019 at Rizal Memorial Tennis Court, Alcantara and then-partner Jeson Patrombon defeated Treat Huey and Gonzales in the final.
Three years later, Huey and Gonzales got back at Patrombon and Alcantara in the final in Vietnam.
This time around, there was no all-Filipino final as Eric Olivarez and Mico Eala bowed out to Rungkat and Barki in the quarterfinals, 7-5, 2-6, 5-10.
Alcantara and Gonzales, meanwhile, received a bye in the first round before beating Indonesia’s David and Ignatius Susanto in the quarterfinals and Vietnam’s Dac Tien and Van Phuong Nguyen.
