Bautista keeps boxing crown

Jins, netters rack up five golds

PHNOM PENH – An emotional win in the boxing ring by Ian Clark Bautista and a kick-ass four-gold romp by the taekwondo jins sparked a late charge for Team Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games last night.

Bautista clinching victory over Indonesian challenger Asri Udin in the men’s 57kg class in Hall G opened the floodgate as jins Kurt Barbosa (men’s -54kg), Arven Alcantara (men’s -68kg), Samuel Morrison (men’s -87kg) and Kirstie Elaine Alora (women’s -73kg) lorded it over their rivals for gold in the hall next door.

As Bautista and the taekwondo stalwarts were picking up the mints, tennis stars Casey Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales scooped up theirs in the men’s doubles over at the Morodok Techo National Stadium via a 2-6, 7-5, 10-5 comeback win over Indonesian opponents Christopher Rungkat and Nathan Barki.

Thanks to their exploits, Team Philippines racked up six golds, eight silvers and four bronzes yesterday.

As of 9:15 p.m., the 840-strong delegation backed by the PSC and POC accumulated 37 golds, 64 silvers and 77 bronzes. The Pinoy bets stayed in sixth spot behind Vietnam (85-77-85), Thailand (77-52-75), Cambodia (59-52-79), Indonesia (56-52-72) and Singapore (40-32-42). Nine golds separate the Filipinos from seventh-running Malaysia (28-37-69).

With a “guardian angel” watching over him, Bautista pounded on Indonesian challenger Asri Udin in the three-round fight and ran away with a unanimous decision victory to repeat as champ.

Bautista’s triumph soothed the losses of fellow boxers Rogen Ladon (men’s 51kg), Irish Magno (women’s 54kg) and Riza Pasuit (women’s 63kgs) as the Philippine pugilists batted 1-of-4 in the first day of championship bouts.

Bautista thoroughly defeated his Indonesian rival, landing cracking body and head shots to win in the scorecards of all judges, 30-26 in three and 30-27 in two.

The Filipino crowd in the hall led by Senate President Miguel Zubiri, Sen. Bong Go, POC president Bambol Tolentino, PSC chairman Richard Bachmann and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial erupted as the referee raised the hand of the champ.

Bautista turned emotional during the post-fight talk with the media, his voice cracking as he remembered boxing chief Ed Picson, who died last month.

“Regalo ko po ito kay Sir Ed. Halos magkasabay kaming pumasok (in the ABAP team) noong 2009. Malaking pasalamat ko sa kanya kasi malaking tulong niya sa akin simula pa noon,” he said with Picson’s widow, Karina, nearby.

Ladon abdicated the flyweight throne he held for the last two SEAGs. Ladon lost via unanimous decision to Thailand’s Tharanat Saengphet.

Female bets Magno and Pasuit tried in vain to join the gold rush as they took 0-5 losses to Thai Jutamas Jitpong and Vietnamese Thi Linh Ha, respectively.

Next door, Barbosa retained his SEAG gold after a 2-0 shutout of Thai Ramnarong Sawekwiharee, which kicked things off for the rampaging jins.

Alcantara took care of business with a 2-1 verdict over Thai Chaichan Cho while Samuel Morrison, competing in his SEAG swan song wearing a pink-dyed hair, dispatched Indonesian Nicholas Armanto in three rounds. Veteran Alora, for her part, won her first SEAG gold since 2013 with a 2-1 decision over Vietnam’s Thi Huong Nguyen.

Their taekwondo teammates, Veronica Garces and Nicole Canne, earned the bronze in the women’s 46kg and 57kg divisions.

A teenager from the accomplished weightlifting clan, Angeline Colonia, delivered a silver medal in her maiden SEAG debut over at the National Olympic Stadium. Sister to Rio Olympics veteran Nestor Colonia and niece to 1988 campaigner Greg Colonia, Angeline, 16, lifted 148kgs to finish second behind 24-year-old winner Zin May Oo of Myanmar (164kgs).

The rising star led a three-silver haul in the opener of weightlifting, with John Ceniza (men’s 61kgs) and Lovely Vidal Inan (women’s 49kgs) joining the fray.