Naypyitaw, Myanmar—A last-ditch push to avoid a worst finish in the Southeast Asian Games fizzled out for Team Philippines yesterday with only two taekwondo-jins and a muay fighter delivering precious gold medals that wasn’t enough to lift the country out of the pits here.
Jins Kirstie Elaine Alora and Kristopher Robert Uy and muay fighter Preciosa Ocaya jacked up the country’s tally to 29 gold medals – one short of the target initially set by PH officials in this vast Burmese capital.
With only sepak takraw left in medal contention a day before the closing ceremony, the 29-gold, 33-silver, 37-bronze harvest also fell short of sixth-running Singapore’s 34-29-44 medal haul, relegating the country to its worst placing since joining the Games in 1977.
It was the third worst in the history of the Games for the Philippines, which had 20 golds in Brunei in 1999 and 26 in Kuala Lumpur in 1989.
With the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission strictly imposing a gold-silver standard, the country fielded one of the smallest delegations here with 208 athletes participating in 167 out of 460 events. They did come away with 99 medals – a solid batting average as far as chef de mission Jeff Tamayo was concerned.
“The athletes made us proud despite the odds they faced here,” said Tamayo. “Performance-wise, we are satisfied.”
Needing a gold rush to overtake the Singaporeans at sixth, the Filipinos could only muster three golds thanks to Alora and Uy who prevailed in the women’s over 74 kg and the men’s over 87 kg, respectively, at Wunna Theikdi Stadium, and Ocaya, whose victory inside the muay arena eased the pain of two painful losses by her teammates.
The 25-year-old Ocaya overwhelmed Phithsaya Phoumchanch of Laos to win via decision in the women’s 54 kg title match.
The Nagcarlan, Laguna struck with a flurry late in the third round as she reclaimed the gold she won in 2009 in Laos.
“I was aggressive than her,” said Ocaya. “I want to knock her down but I couldn’t.”
Alora retained her title with a 6-4 win over Cambodia’s David Sorn.
The expert management graduate from College of St. Benilde, connected on an Asian turning long kick on the Cambodian that gave her the cushion she needed to take the win.
Uy, who studies finance at De La Salle University, hammered out a come-from-behind 7-6 win over Vietnam’s Quang Duc Dinh in the men’s +87 kg category for taekwondo’s fourth gold in the competition.
STUNNING LOSS
Muay fighters Philip Delarmino and Jonathan Polosan accounted for two of the four silver medals on the penultimate day of action.
The loss that stung the most was Delarmino’s after the Filipino fighter floored his Burmese foe four times only to lose via decision inside the noisy boxing arena.
Delarmino had Saw Dar Pot on the defensive for most of the match, but still couldn’t get the nod of the judges in a scenario similar to the boxing finals, where two Filipino boxers lost to Burmese fighters.
Refusing to be awed by his experienced opponent, Polosan fought valiantly only to lose to Panupong Panjad of Thailand in the men’s 63.5 kg finals. /inquirer