FILE–Filipino cue artists Chezka Centeno and Rubilen Amit. Picture by Mark Giongco/INQUIRER.web
HANOI—The Philippines’ gold haul on Friday was so lean, it dropped the nation to fifth place within the thirty first Southeast Asian Video games.
However as Workforce Philippines heads to the ultimate stretch of the biennial meet, there are extra golds that would put the nation in a a lot better end.
Hidilyn Diaz’s gold supplied the spotlight on Friday and there may be hope the Olympic champion’s feat will encourage a second wave of gold rush. Workforce Philippines is setting its sights on a 3rd or fourth place end within the total standings even because it slipped to fifth as of seven p.m. Friday.
The nation solely has 43 gold medals to point out together with 57 silvers and 80 bronzes. Host Vietnam has an insurmountable tally of 158-95-91. Thailand is operating second (65-72-102), Singapore third (47-44-62) and Indonesia fourth (46-66-59).
“We nonetheless have a bulk (of golds) to count on,” stated Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, referring males’s and girls’s basketball, billiards, e-sports, boxing and weightlifting. “Singapore has no extra.”
“If all of us work laborious as one, we are going to win as one,” stated commissioner Mon Fernandez of the Philippine Sports activities Fee, who has been diligently attending to the athletes’ in his capability as chef de mission. “This isn’t the time for us to be discouraged since reclaiming No. 3 continues to be very a lot attainable.”
The optimism isn’t unfounded.
Billiards has assured itself of two extra gold medals on this SEA Video games because the 10-ball finals took on all-Filipino casts. Rubilen Amit and Chezka Centeno will dispute the ladies’s gold, whereas Johann Chua clashes with Carlo Biado within the males’s finals at Ha Dong Gymnasium.
It’s an all-Filipino males’s doubles finals in tennis, too, after defending champion Francis Casey Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon, and Deal with Huey and Ruben Gonzales defeated their respective semifinals rivals.
Patrombon and Alcantara trounced Vietnam’s Quoc Le Khanh and Nguyen Van Phuong, 6-4, 6-2.
Huey and Gonzales then scored a 6-4, 6-2 over one other native pair Minh Pham Tuan and Trinh Lin Giang.
The Filipinos dispute the gold at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Boxing additionally has a handful of golds to shoot for, led by Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial’s quest for the area’s middleweight crown.
Learn Subsequent
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get entry to The Philippine Every day Inquirer & different 70+ titles, share as much as 5 devices, take heed to the information, obtain as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Name 896 6000.
For suggestions, complaints, or inquiries, contact us.
