Naypyitaw, Myanmar—World champion Josie Gabuco, London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga and bantam Mario Fernandez quenched the thirst for gold medals Saturday as the Philippines began a difficult climb out of the pits halfway through the 27th Southeast Asian Games here.
Gabuco, the reigning pinweight champion, punched her way to victory by downing Indonesian Betarix Suguru, 40-36, 40-36, 38-all, in the finals of the light flyweight division.
The lionhearted Puerto Princesa boxer and Barriga, 20, finally gave Filipino athletes a much-needed confidence boost after a dry harvest for two days.
Team Philippines moved ahead of Cambodia with six golds, six silvers and 15 bronzes at seventh, thanks to the Filipino boxers, who had seven pugs vying for golds at the start of the day.
Barriga, a southpaw from Panabo City, Davao del Sur, scored a convincing win over Indonesia’s Konelis Langu, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, for the light flyweight gold, while Fernandez also had Donchai Tathi of Thailand on the ropes with a 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 tally.
While Gabuco, who clinched a third SEAG crown, offered her victory to the victims of the recent spate of disasters that struck the country, Nesthy Petecio could only shake her head in disbelief after falling to a nasty hometown decision in the featherweight finale.
Petecio dominated Myanmar’s Nwe Ni Oo for three rounds but the referee raised the hand of Burmese after the fight to the delight of the crowd at the packed Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium here.
The 2013 China Open champion showed her displeasure by flexing her muscles at the center of the ring while Oo jumped for joy.
Joining Petecio in the silver tally was world women’s 10-ball champion Rubilen Amit, who faltered against Angeline Magdaena, 7-2, in the 9-ball finals.
Still holding sway are the host country with 26 golds, 25 silvers and 21 bronzes. Vietnam was running second (22-13-19), Indonesia third (21-25-18), Thailand fourth (21-25-17) and Malaysia fifth (10-7-22). Singapore was still ahead of the Philippines as of 6 p.m. (7:30 p.m. Manila time) with a hoard of 8-7-15.
Meanwhile, Sinag Pilipinas is just a win away from the gold after blasting Indonesia, 83-52, yesterday at the Zeyar Thiri Stadium.
Naturalized center Marcus Douthit had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Nationals.
Visibly not in her elements, Irish Ranola dropped her opening match, 4-7, opposite Magdaena of Indonesia, and tumbled out of the tournament for good.
Ranola, who recently lost her father due to a lingering illness, was the 9-ball champion two years ago in Indonesia.
Cue masters Efren “Bata”’ Reyes and Francisco dela Cruz were assured of bronzes in the men’s carom cushion single. Reyes, the mentor of Amit and Ranola in the 9-ball event, bowed to Vietnamese Minh Cam and Dela Cruz, silver medalist in 2011, dropped his match against another Viet, Dinh Tien. /inquirer with correspondent jonas panerio