Yulo, Obiena stamp class

PHNOM PENH – On a lean time at the quarry, Team Philippines turned to the big guns to save the day.

Gymnastics star Carlos Edriel Yulo and pole vault ace EJ Obiena whipped up a storm on their respective fronts in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games to key a five-gold harvest on a rainy day.

Yulo dazzled his way to a third straight individual all-around title at the Olympic Stadium while Obiena sizzled under wet conditions at the Morodok Techo National Stadium to seal a record-breaking three-peat feat.

The Yulo and Obiena Show was well complemented by Fil-Spanish Fer Casares, who repeated as a triathlon king and kun bokator fighter Robin Catalan and swimmer Xiandi Chua, who scored triumphs at dusk.

Two-time world champion Yulo showcased his first-rate skills in the six apparatuses at the Olympic Stadium en route to an unassailable tally of 84.000 points, beating challengers led by Vietnam’s Thanh Tung Le (80.450) and Phuong Thanh Dinh (78.150) with plenty to spare.

The Tokyo Olympian earned high marks in vault (15), parallel bars (14.95), floor exercise (14.35) and still rings (14.15) while carding 12.9 in the horizontal bar and 12.65 in pommel horse to extend the IAA dominance he started in 2019 in Manila and continued last year in Hanoi.

“Pressured pero binigay ko lahat ng makakaya para sa bansa,” said Yulo, who also towed his men’s artistic gymnastics brothers Juancho Miguel Besana, Ivan Cruz, Jan Gwynn Timbang and Justin Ace de Leon to the team all-around silver with a score of 305.25.

At night, not even a heavy downpour that led to at least an hour of play suspension could stop Obiena from obliterating his own SEAG mark of 5.46m with an unbeatable 5.65 meters.

“This one’s tough. There’s definitely a different kind of challenge, for sure,” said Obiena, soaked in sweat and rain as he met mediamen in a powwow.

Vietnamese Tong-yu Kho, Ngoc Xuan Thien Dang, Phuong Thanh Dinh, Than Tung Le, Van Khanh Phong Nguyen and Vi Luong Van denied Yulo’s team of glory after submitting a high 313 points.

Earlier, Casares kept his status as men’s triathlon king over in Kep Beach.

Casares finished the 750k swim, 20k bike and 5k run race in 58 minutes and 33.5 seconds to quell the upset bid of Indonesian Amilya Yaqin (58:47.7).

The 25-year-old Casares was sixth out of the water but shifted to high gear in the bike and run phases to ensure that the gold stayed with the Philippines.

“I went through so many emotions throughout the race but all the hard work finally paid off,” Casares told The STAR.

Catalan, a muay thai world champion, added a third mint with his conquest of the combat men’s 50kg class at the expense of Indonesia’s Ade Permana.

Chua clocked a new SEAG record of 2:13.20 to lead a 1-2 finish for the Philippines in the women’s 200m backstroke. She beat Chloe Isleta (2:16.19) for the swimming delegation’s first victory here.

Kim Remolino joined Casares in the triathlon podium as he finished third at 59:55.5.

The good news came with the bad, though, as the reign of three-time triathlon queen Kim Mangrobang ended at the hands of Cambodia’s French-born naturalized player Margot Garabedian.

A former world junior player of France, Garabedian submitted a winning 1:05:32.2 to dethrone Mangrobang 1:07.24.0

Karate’s Jamie Lim, who topped the women’s -61kg kumite the other day, fell short of her bid for a second gold as she and Arianne Brito, Junna Tsukii and Renon Misu lost to Vietnam in the team kumite finale, 2-0.

The five-gold haul slowed down the contingent backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, which collared seven Sunday.

Overall, Team Philippines carried a 19-22-22 medal tally as of 9 p.m. behind Cambodia’s leading 33-27-27, Thailand’s 21-17-26 and Indonesia’s 21-15-40.