Hail Mary

Tabal wins injury-hit Phl 1st gold; SEAG opens in burst of colors

KUALA LUMPUR – It was a sight to behold – Mary Joy Tabal crossing the finish line in a burst of morning light and giving the Philippines its first golden moment in the 29th Southeast Asian Games here yesterday.

She  later broke into smile as she soaked in the cheers after running probably the race of her life, away from the controversies that had hounded her at home.

It was the kind of start the Philippine contingent had hoped for in this fortnight of regional sporting war when it seeks to improve its sixth place finish overall in the last SEAG with a target haul of 50 golds.

But no sooner had the celebration died down when Team Phl suffered two blows on athletics where it hoped to clinch more gold medals.

Ernest John Obiena, who was to compete in the pole vault where he owns the SEAG best personal record of 5.61 meters and a potential gold-medal winner here, hurt his left knee in training in Manila, while Patrick Unso, a 110m hurdles specialist who is a vital cog of the 4x100m relay team and another gold medal prospect, had aggravated his hamstring injury in training. Both were dropped out of the team.

Malacañang lauded Tabal after she claimed the gold medal. “So we congratulate Mary Joy Tabal for giving the Philippines its first gold medal with her performance in the women’s marathon at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,” Malacañang said in a statement read at state-run Radyo Pilipinas by China Jocson, assistant to Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella.

After a brief rain delay, the 29th SEA Games unfurled last night in a burst of color at the National Stadium, ushering in the 11-day hostilities offering 404 gold medals in 38 sports disciplines among 11 member countries.

Team Philippines is fielding 493 athletes competing in 37 of 38 sports – except cricket – vowing to win one gold per sport or 50-63 mints in its bid to break into the top half of the SEAG medal tally and improve on its sixth place finish in the Singapore Games where it hauled 29 gold medals.

Members of the Philippine contingent, dressed in blue Filipiniana-inspired broidered shirts, took their place in the middle of the parade of 11 nations, with standard bearer Kirstie Elaine Alora, the 2016 Rio Olympics taekwondo jin, leading the march of athletes from archery, athletics, boxing, football, ice hockey, netball, petanque, rowing, table tennis and sepak takraw.

Action blasts off today in various venues in Kuala Lumpur and other competition sites outside the Malaysian capital.

The vaunted boxing team is fielding its top three SEA Games veterans – Ian Clark Bautista, Eumir Felix Marcial and Mario Fernandez – in the opener of the boxing competitions, vowing for wins that would send them to the semifinals.

Gilas Pilipinas, honed to championship form in the Jones Cup and tipped to win the gold here, starts its title retention bid against archrival Thailand at 9:30 p.m.

The women’s team opens against Singapore at 7:15 p.m.

The men and women’s bowlers gun for the gold in today’s singles while Filipino archers see action in a whole day of elimination, semifinal and final matches for the golds in the men’s and women’s recurve event.

Also on tap is the final in synchronized swimming and the continuation of the single round competition in water polo.