29-year-old cyclist regains sprint-king title; PH baseball, dragon boat teams win gold

Palembang, Indonesia—Cyclist Alfie Catalan showed he’s still sprint king while the national clouters and rowers also delivered as Team Philippines struggled to climb out of the pits in the 26th Southeast Asian Games here yesterday.

Humbled by Indonesian Warseso Projo in the qualifiers, Catalan, an Army corporal, pedaled furiously and clocked 4 minutes and 53.1 seconds at the Rawamangun Velodrome in West Java to duplicate his triumphs in the 2005 and 2007 SEA Games.

Nearly left at home, the baseball team completed its vindication by repeating over the Indonesians, 2-0, to regain the title they lost to the Thais in Nakhon Ratchasima.

Over at Lake Cipule, the men’s 22-crew dragon boat squad edged regional powerhouse Myanmar for the gold in the traditional boat race.

Paddling with rhythm and precision, the Filipinos thwarted a spirited charge by the Burmese  to  clock 1 minute and 53.95 seconds. Myanmar settled for the silver in 1:54.12 with Thailand bagging the bronze in 1:56.20.

“This gold (medal) is truly special because we had only four months to prepare for the event,” said the 29-year-old Catalan, who relinquished his title in the 2009 Laos SEAG without a fight after the Filipino cyclists were unable to compete.

The Philippines finished 1-3 in the event after 18-year-old John Rene Mier timed 5:00.90, nipping Malaysian Amir Mustafa of Malaysia.

It was a good day for the cyclists as the men’s 4,000-meter team pursuit squad led by Mier and Catalan and John Paul Morales and Arnold Marcelo, also pocketed a bronze.

The rowers added another silver trough its men’s 10-crew for 500 meters after timing 2:16.30, nearly two seconds behind Myanmar.

As a bonus, the 12-man 500m rowing team which was disqualified Saturday for allegedly fielding ineligible players,was finally given the bronze after its protest was upheld.

STILL AT SIXTH

Despite the isolated victories, the Filipinos remained mired at sixth place in the overall tally with a total haul of 26 golds, 45 silvers and 63 bronzes as of 6 p.m. (7 p.m. in Manila).

Even with two days of full blast action left, the Indonesians are assured of the overall championship with a horde of 144-119-110. The Thais are well-entrenched at second (90-77-101), followed by Vietnam (80-80-85), Malaysia (51-44-68) and Singapore (40-43-71).

In the boxing semifinals late Saturday, lightweight Charly Suarez beat Thai Ardee Saylom to advance to Monday’s finals against Indonesian Mandiangan Matius. Also bidding for the gold is light welterweight Dennis Galvan, who’ll be facing another hometown bet in Afdan Bachtila.

Guangzhou Asian Games champion Rey Saludar, however, bowed to Indonesian Julio Bria in the flyweight division to settle for the bronze.

Pinweight Josie Gabuco and light flyweight Alice Kate Aparri retained their crowns while Nesthy Petecio settled for the light bantamweight silver.

Frederick Ong, meanwhile,  made the stepladder finals of the men’s masters event in bowling Sunday night by topping the second block – the short oil – with a total of 1,827 pinfalls.

Ong is seeking his second gold in these competitions to become the most bemedalled Filipino athlete here. He also has a silver and two bronze medals. /inquirer