Rousing Day One for Pinoy athletes

MANILA, Philippines — They do mean business.

Filipino athletes hauled in a big chunk of gold medals from sunrise to sundown yesterday, racking up 20 and setting their overall championship drive in motion in the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) at various venues in Subic, Manila and Pampanga.

Dance sport delivered as promised, winning all but one of the six morning events then bouncing back strong from a setback in breakdancing early in the afternoon with another five-gold romp in six events in evening competitions of the one-day event.

Day One brilliance doesn’t make a champion team in such a cutthroat competition as the SEAG. But the hosts hope to feed on their strong start in pursuit of the coveted overall crown and duplicate the country’s feat in 2005.

At the break of dawn in Subic, the triathletes launched their gold medal drive and scored an expected sweep of both the men’s and women’s divisions, underscoring their domination by likewise sweeping the silver the way they did in Kuala Lumpur in 2017.

Wushu also delivered one, arnis produced four, sepak takraw delivered two before world champion Carlos Yulo treated the big crowd at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum to a world-class performance, running away with the gold in gymnastics artistic qualification and all-around event.

“I was really hyped by the crowd. I got nervous, but thanks to everyone who showed us their support here. I’m at a loss for words,” said Yulo, who pooled 84.900 points to beat Vietnam’s Dinh Phuong Thanh (82.350) for the gold.

Yulo scored 14.650 in floor exercise, 13.600 each in pommel horse and still rings, 14.900 in vault, 14.400 in parallel bars and 13.750 in horizontal bars.

The early gold rush put the Philippines on top with a 20-10-5 (gold-silver-bronze), with Vietnam in second with 5-12-7 followed by Malaysia (4-1-2), Singapore (3-2-4), defending overall champion Thailand (2-4-8), Indonesia (1-2-5), Brunei (1-2-1), Cambodia (0-2-3), Myanmar (0-1-4), Laos (0-0-2) and Timor Leste without any medal to show as of 8 p.m.

But the day belonged to the dance sport team, which racked an early five-gold binge at the Royce Hotel in Mabalacat, Pampanga with the fancied tandem of Sean Aranar and Ana Nualla winning three – Tango Mixed, Viennese Waltz Mixed and all five dances – Waltz, Tango, Viennese, Foxtrot and Quickstep.

The pair of Jayson Gayon and Mary Joy Renigen bagged the other two golds in Waltz Mixed and Foxtrot Mixed. The duo missed matching their teammates’ three-gold haul after settling for silver in Quickstep Mixed won by Vietnam’s Hai Yen Nguyen Thi and Hoa Nguyen Duc.

Aranar-Nualla came away with 30.150 points to edge Vietnam’s Hai-Hoa (29.430) and Thailand’s Thanawan Yananun-Issarapong Duangkew (28.980) in Tango Mixed; scored 30.100 in topping the Waltz Mixed over Hai-Hoa (29.188) and Singapore’s Rachel Teo-Jerome Teo (28.400); and finished with a total of 151.350 points in all Five Dances to beat Vietnam’s Truong Xuan Nguyen-Anh Minh Vu Hoang (142.100) and Thailand’s Pasraporn Phandech-Anucha Wijitkoon (138.250).

Gayon and Renigen, on the other hand, scored 29.950 points to reign in Waltz, beating Vietnam’s Truong Xuan-Vu Hoang (28.988) and Singapore’s Teo pair (27.975); and put in a 30.200 total in Foxtrot to nip Singapore’s Teo tandem (30.146) and Thailand’s Thanawan Yananun-Duangkaew (29.850).

But after being foiled in breakdancing, the Pinoy dancers struck back in Samba Mixed with Marie Caneda and Wilbert Aunzo winning with 32.275 points, beating Vietnam’s Trong Nha Uyen and Doan Minh Truong (31.950) and Thailand’s Preeyanoot Patoomsriwiroje (31.663).

Caneda and Aunzo also took the Chacha Mixed gold with 31.650 points, besting Thailand’s Apichaya Kuptawanith and Jettapon Inthakun (30.900) and Vietnam’s Anh Phan Hong and Trung Kien Nguyen (30.100) then kept their winning form and added the Rumba Mixed gold to match Aranar and Nualla’s three-gold haul.

Caneda and Aunzo scored 31.950 to edge Kuptawanith-Inthakun (31.350) while Anh Pham Hong and Trung Kien Nguyen took the bronze with 30.650 points.

Stephanie Sabalo and Michael Marquez, on the other hand, kept the hosts’ dominance by snaring the Paso doble Mixed gold, barely nipping Thailand’s Patoomsriwiroje-Shinawat Lersonm, 32.400-32.000, with Singapore’s Shannen Tan and Gary Tsan bagging the bronze with 31.050 points.

But Sabalo and Marquez fell short in Jive Mixed, scoring 32.650 and yielding the gold to Vietnam’s Trong Nha Uyen Nguyen and Doan Minh Truong Nguyen, who earned 32.713 points. Thais Kuptawanith and Inthakun took the bronze with 31.350.

The Pinoy duo, however, redeemed themselves in the final event late in the night, winning the all Five Dances Mixed with 164.100 points, to complete the hosts’ haul of 10 of the 13 gold medals disputed in the sport.

Vietnam captured the silver in Five Dances with 163.065 and Thailand scored 159.000 for the bronze.

Earlier, John Leerams Chicano, who took the silver behind back-to-back gold medalist but absentee Nikko Huelgas in Malaysia in 2017, bagged the gold this time with a 1:53:26 clocking in the 1.5km swim- 40km bike-10km run event, becoming the first to deliver the gold among the 1,094 athletic delegation.

Kim Remolino claimed the silver in 1:55:03 while Indonesia’s Ahlul Firman took the bronze in 1:57:10.

“This is for my country. It’s an honor to deliver the first gold medal. This is for the Filipinos,” beamed the 28-year-old Chicano, who bucked a shaky start in the swim leg with a strong rebound in the bike and closing run stage.

Kim Mangrobang (2:02:00) and Kim Kilgroe (2:05:02) duplicated their Kuala Lumpur feat in the women’s side by finishing 1-2 with Octaria Nethavani, also from Indonesia, bagging the bronze in 2:16:33.

“We’re trying to qualify for the Olympics,” said Mangrobang, who has set her sights on making it to next year’s Tokyo Games. “We’re trying to become the first Filipino triathletes in the Olympics so we’re all out in achieving that dream.”

Next to deliver was wushu as St. Benilde product Agatha Wong dished out a flawless performance to repeat as champion in women’s Taolu Taijiquan discipline. She scored 9.67 points to foil Brunei’s Basma Lachkar (9.55) and Vietnam’s Huyen Tran Thi (9.530) for top honors to the delight of the big crowd at the World Trade Center.

“It was a special win because this is the highest category in wushu,” she said. “And winning the gold for the second time in row, it was really special and I did it for my country, for my fellow Filipinos.”

Winning it for arnis were Dexter Bolambao (bantamweight 55kg and less), Villardo Cunamay (lightweight), Mark Talledo (featherweight) and Mike Banares (welterweight) while Deseree Autor, Josefina Maat and Sarah Jean Kalalo along with Metodio Suico Jr., Jason Huerte and John John Bobier bagged the golds in women’s and men’s hoop event of sepak takraw, respectively.

 “We’re on track on meeting our projection and with the way gold medals are being won by us on Day One. There’s a big chance we would surpass our expectations,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president and Rep. Bambol Tolentino.

“I formed a research team as early as last year to study this and of course we will not design it if we can’t win the overall title,” added Tolentino, whose initial projection is a minimum of 130 golds and a maximum of 200.

But as in any competition, there were heartbreaks and letdowns with cycling failing to produce a gold as Niño Surban settled for a silver in the Mountain Bike Cross Country men’s final ruled by Indonesia’s Zaenal Fanani in Laurel, Batangas with John Flores ending up with the bronze.

Avegail Rombaon also finished with a bronze in Mountain Bike Cross Country women’s final ruled by Vietnam’s Dinh Thi Nhu Quynh in Laurel, Batangas.

Dinh Quynh timed 1:36:43 in bagging the gold with compatriot Ca Thi Thom claiming the silver in 1:44:19 and Rombaon clocking 1:48:54 for third.

Ice skaters Chris Caluza and Alisson Perticheto also settled for silvers in seniors singles at SM Megamall with Malaysia’s Julian Yee and Singapore’s Chloe Ing winning the men’s and women’s gold medals, respectively.

The men’s Division A: 4-6 Goals team also suffered a 5 1/2-7 defeat to Malaysia in polo finals at the Inigo Zobel Polo Facility in Calatagan, Batangas. It was a sorry setback for the Pinoy polo players, who had beaten the Malaysians in the Qualifying League to clinch a berth in the finals.