Alkhaldi’s gold gives luster to lean Phl day

NAY PYI TAW – Olympian Jasmine Alkhaldi gathered speed in the last 25 meters and overtook two rivals in a close finish to win the gold medal in the 100m freestyle, giving the Philippines the glitter it needed on a day of frustration in the 27th Southeast Asian Games last night.

The 20-year-old Alkhaldi timed 56.65 seconds, a shade slower than her personal best of 56.37, but it was enough to win the first gold medal for the four-member swimming team and revive the fading hopes of a Philippine contingent that started to lose on major fronts of the 12-day, 10-nation biennial competition.

The gold medal, Alkhaldi’s first ever, thanks to her training at the University of Hawaii since she joined the London Olympics a year go, was the country’s fourth against five silvers and six bronzes, although it still kept the Philippines at sixth behind Myanmar (20-13-11), Vietnam (14-6-9), Indonesia (9-14-10), Thailand (8-12-9) and Malaysia (55-5-13).

Filipino grapplers settled for the consolation medals – three bronzes in the individual events of wrestling – but Team Philippines gathered strength from the wins in the boxing semifinals and men’s basketball and gold medal hopes in billiards and snooker.

Newcomer Alvin Lobrequito fell to Nguyen Hyha of Vietnam before prevailing over Gabriel Juang Junen of Singapore in the bronze medal match of the 55-kg category.

Joseph Angana won over Bui Tuan Anh of Vietnam in the 66-kg class while another first timer Jhonny Morte prevailed over Jirawat Iamsamang on points in the 60-kg class.

Gabuco carved a lopsided 40-36, 40-34, 40-34, 40-36 victory over Sornka Chantavonsra of Laos to advance to also avert a boxing shutout for the day as flyweight Maricris Igam and bantamweight Irish Magno lost their respective semifinals bout.

Phl cagers thumped Myanmar, 118-43, for their third straight win and gave them momentum going to the crucial Friday match against fellow unbeaten Thailand, 80-67 winner over Cambodia earlier.

In yesterday’s events, Macaranas finished fourth in the men’s C1 500m while Generalo wound up sixth in the men’s K1 500m, a setback which they blamed for their failure to race in their own boats.

Meanwhile, Gabuco reduced her Laotian rival to pieces with a blizzard of 1-2 combinations and scored a decisive victory in the 46-48 kg to advance to the gold medal round of the women’s boxing semifinals yesterday at the indoor gymnasium of the Wunnum Theikdi National Sports Complex.

Gabuco, 26, was unrelenting with her lightning fast left-right combinations as she gave her opponent little room for counterattack throughout the four-round match. She won on all three scorecards, 40-36, 40-34, 40-36.

“She piled up as many points as she could, and that’s what she does well with her style of fighting,” said national coach Boy Velasco. “This eliminates the risk of controversial decisions.”

While cooling down by the entrance of the gym, Gabuco watched her gold medal opponent, Indonesian Beatrix Suguro, hack out a close 39-37, 38-38, 37-38 win over hometown bet Thethter San.