Diaz saves day as Team Philippines slows down

HANOI – Reigning Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz carried the heavy load for Team Philippines on a day it fell to fifth place in the medal standings of the 31st Southeast Asian Games.

The Filipinos also secured the gold, which has come in trickles over the past three days, in esports courtesy of Sibol in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and men’s judo through Shugen Nakano (66kg).

But it was Diaz’ victory in weightlifting’s 55kg division that left Filipino officials in a positive mood.

“Pwede pa. Kaya pa,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino, who occupied a front-row seat as Diaz, the SEAG title holder, bagged the gold with a total lift of 206kg.

At around noon, Team Philippines was in fifth overall, and farther away from the podium, its initial target coming to the Hanoi Games.

But Diaz’ victory somehow gave the Filipinos reason to look forward to the last two days of competition. High hopes remain in judo, billiards, basketball, esports and weightlifting.

“May pagkukunan pa tayo ng bulto,” said Tolentino.

As the day wore on, the medal standings showed Indonesia putting some distance in third with its 46-65-59 haul and Singapore in fourth with 46-44-61. Vietnam and Thailand are already assured of a 1-2 finish with their 158-94-90 and 64-72-102.

Team Philippines, which won 149 gold, 117 silver and 121 bronze medals when it hosted and won the overall title in 2019, was at 43-59-80 and needing every gold medal it could get in a frantic race for third.

All-Pinoy finals

The billiards team sealed an all-Filipino finals in the men’s and women’s 10-ball singles after Chezka Centeno and Rubilen Amit downed their separate rivals in the semis and advanced to the gold-medal match scheduled at 10 a.m. today at the Ha Dong District Sporting Hall.

Centeno, the reigning SEA Games champion, defeated Xuan Vang Bui of Vietnam, 7-5, while Amit, who won the 9-ball singles three days ago, blanked Pennipa Nakjui of Thailand, 7-0.

It will be a friendly but interesting battle for the 10-ball title between the two Filipinas who have won 13 SEA Games gold medals combined.

In the men’s side, newly-crowned 9-ball champion Johann Chua dominated Aloyasius Yapp of Singapore, 9-2, while Carlo Biado, the 2021 US Open champion, stopped another Singaporean in Sharik Sayed, 9-3.

The men’s final is at 2 p.m. today.

“We are happy to be assured of the gold and silver in men’s and women’s 10-ball singles. It’s all-Filipino,” said team manager Roy Malinao.

“Happy na kami under the situation and the pandemic,” he added.

Another all-Filipino battle for the gold is coming up in men’s doubles in tennis.

The sure gold was sealed after Ruben Gonzales and Treat Huey stopped Vietnam’s Giang Trinh Linh and Mihn Tuan Pham, 6-4, 6-2, and Jeson Patrombon and Francis Casey Alcantara outsteadied another Vietnamese pair, Quoc Khan Le and V?n Phuong Nguyen, 6-4, 6-4.

“It’s really a big relief for the team despite all the difficulties we encountered in Manila,” said coach Cris Cuarto.

Diaz eyes Paris

Diaz, the new face of Philippine sports, was full of confidence when she climbed the stage at the weightlifting venue, which is no bigger than a high school auditorium, in her catchy black and pink suit.

For a while, it seemed that the Philippines’ one and only Olympic gold medalist had met a serious threat in Thailand’s Sanikun Tanasan, a gold medalist in the 48kg of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Thai had the better end of the snatch with her 93kg, a new SEA Games record, against Diaz’ 92.

Then came the clean and jerk, which is Diaz’ cup of tea. The Thai did 104kg on her first attempt then 110kg on her second before failing at 114kg on her third and last attempt.