MANILA, Philippines — In the end, three Filipino boxers delivered the most telling blows.
With five gold medals won on the final day of competition, Team Philippines booked a fourth-place finish in the 31st Southeast Asian Games which lowered the curtains last night at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.
The remaining bulk of Team Philippines arrived home on a chartered Philippine Airlines flight yesterday morning flashing a final and official medal haul of 52 gold, 70 silver and 104 bronze for a grand total of 226.
It was a strong finish for the Filipino athletes, who faced the longest lockdown in the region due to the pandemic as they prepared for the Games more than two years after winning the overall title on Philippine soil.
It was a battle until the end.
The Philippines was locked in a tight race for fourth with Singapore on the penultimate day of action. But the Singaporeans got stuck with 47 gold medals after missing top honors in shooting, badminton and table tennis.
In contrast, the Philippines, which bagged the overall title in 2019 with a medal haul of 149-117-121, finished strong with three golds in boxing and one each in women’s basketball and muay.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Felix Marcial was the star of the night at the Bac Ninh Gymnasium on a rainy Sunday afternoon. He needed less than three rounds to stop Delio Anzaqeci Mouzinho of Timor Leste in a one-sided contest for the middleweight gold.
Flyweight Rogen Ladon and featherweight Ian Clark Bautista also struck in boxing by beating their foes from Vietnam and Myanmar in the finals, respectively. The three victories made up for the silver-medal finish of Tokyo Olympian Irish Magno in the women’s flyweight.
Overall, the nine Filipino boxers brought home three gold, one silver and five bronze medals.
The three golds sealed the Philippines’ best finish in the last 11 SEA Games editions when it was not the host. In the last six editions until 2017, the Philippines finished 6-5-6-7-6-6 overall, then emerged No. 1 in 2019.
“We are happy to contribute to the national effort in the SEA Games. This, despite the fact that our preparations were less than ideal. We can’t say enough about the determination, perseverance and national fervor of our boxers and coaches,” said Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines chief Ed Picson.
“We should be happy with our performance and we should be proud of our athletes. We surpassed the number of gold medals in the last 11 editions when we were not the host,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino.
“We fought as one and won as one,” said chef-de-mission Ramon Fernandez.
Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez, meanwhile, said, “If we plant the seeds early in scouting and nourishing our athletes, then we will reap the rewards later on.”