Tankers lead RP’s 6-gold haul

NAKHON RATCHASIMA  – Miguel Molina submitted his fourth gold through the triumphant relay team even as the Philippines rallied late yesterday with four gold medals and six in the day, but the efforts hardly created a dent in the overall race and the Filipinos remained at fifth place in the 24th Southeast Asian Games here.

Molina emerged the most bemedalled Filipino athlete with the relay gold he shared with Ryan Arabejo, Daniel Coakley and James Walsh in the 4x100m squad. With Walsh himself scoring in the butterfly, swimming became the most prolific gold medal producer with eight heading into the final four days of the biennial meet.

Two of the medalists were returning titlists in their respective events – archer Amaya Paz and cyclist Alfie Catalan – while a late bloomer of a trackster in Julius Nierras and the men’s epee team delivered the other golds for Team Philippines.

The squad of Avelino Victorino Jr., Wilfredo Viscayno and Armando Bernal overwhelmed the Vietnam squad, 41-33, to clinch the epee gold, fencing’s third gold.

Catalan also captured the third gold for cycling when he ruled the men’s individual pursuit for the second straight SEAG, beating Amir Mustafa Rusli of Malaysia and Indonesia’s Projo Waseso at the velodrome of the His Majesty The King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary Main Stadium. He timed four minutes, 48.230 seconds, .36 of a second faster than Rusli Waseso took the bronze with 4:50.870.

The track and field association found a new star in 28-year-old Nierras, while Paz rekindled the old fire of 2005 as they raised the national flag amid the din of celebration by host Thailand and Vietnam.

With former 400m run champion Isidro del Prado watching tensely from the sidelines, Nierras made one powerful finishing kick in the last 50 meters to rule the 400m run in 46.65 seconds at the Main Stadium’s track and field oval.

“I knew I had a chance when we reached the stretch so I gave it all I had,” said Nierras, a member of the 4x400 relay team who was given a chance to try the event alongside defending champion Ernie Candelario.

Candelario, who finished sixth in 48.09 seconds, rushed to his teammate to give him a pat on the shoulder and later massaged Nierras, who won athletics’ fifth and last gold at the close of track and field competitions.

He edged Thai Pojaroen Jukkatip (46.64) by only .08 of a second and Malaysian Zainal Abiding Muhamad Daiful (46.75) by.19 seconds.

Even Del Prado, whose RP mark of 45.56 has remained in the books since 1984, had mixed feelings of surprise and joy for the Libiran City native who had a personal best of 47.72 since joining the national pool.

In the football field on the Suranaree University of Technology campus, Paz earlier claimed her second SEA Games gold by retaining her title in the individual compound event.

But Paz had to go through the proverbial eye of the needle to pull off a golden feat. She edged Myanmar’s Aung Ngeain, 111-110,  in the semifinals and won the gold by only two points over the dreaded Indonesian champion Threesyadinda, 116-114. Incidentally, that was the same score Paz pulled off in winning over compatriot Jennifer Chan in the finals of the same event in 2005.

The two medals – one won in early morning, the other at late afternoon – indeed came far between, the Philippines missing the gold on various occasions here and in the satellite venues in Bangkok and Pattaya in southern Thailand.

As of yesterday afternoon, the Philippines remained at fifth with a gold-silver-bronze medal tally of 29-40-60 behind front-running Thailand (94-86-71), Vietnam (46-28-54) Singapore (37-30-28) and Malaysia (30-28-55).

The Philippines’ gold medal hopes now hinge on boxing. The upside is that  13 fighters made it to the finals. The downside is they are fighting the Thais.

Today’s RP-Thailand showdown for the gold features Apari Alice Kate-Satumrum Sopida in the light flyweight (48kg), Annie  Albania-Hansa Kadeewong (flyweight, 50 kg),  Annaliza Cruz- T.U Busiraya (light bantam, 52 kg), Jouvilet Chilem-Tassamalee Thongjan (bantam, 54 kg) and Ronijen Sofla-Peamwilai Laopeam (feather, 57 kg).