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Monday, November 28, 2005
Malaysia, RP duel for gold medal lead
MANILA -- Malaysia and the Philippines dueled for the gold-medal lead Sunday at the 23rd Southeast Asian Games, hours before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared the 23rd version of the regional competition officially open.
Malaysia, after winning two gold medals in karate and two in diving, finished the day with five golds, one ahead of the Philippines.
Rosalinda Samsu of Malaysia set a Games record when she won the women's pole vault with 4.10 meters while countryman Yeoh Ken Nee won the 1-meter springboard. Earlier, Leong Mun Yee and Cheong Jun Hoong combined to win the 10-meter synchronized platform dive event for Malaysia.
Malaysian competitors took both golds in the kata division of karate on the central island of Cebu.
Marestella Torres won the long jump for the Philippines at the track to add to a 3-meter synchro springboard first-place finish for Sheila Mae Perez and Cesiel Domenios of the host country.
"We were surprised to win. The other divers are also good and we don't want to be overconfident," said Perez, who competed for the Philippines at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Filipino dancers took over later in the day, with Michael Mendoza and Melinda Adora winning gold in the Latin competition at the dancesport event and Rico Rosima and Filomena Salvador winning the standard event.
In other results, Bui Thi Nhong of Vietnam, with a Games-record 1.89 meters, won the women's high jump to complete the athletics action Sunday.
At Bacolod on the central island of Negros, a power failure in the 72nd minute plunged the soccer stadium into darkness, forcing Thailand to wait an extra 15 minutes before completing a 2-1 victory over Malaysia in a men's preliminary match.
Arroyo declared the games open at a march-past of the more than 5,000 athletes at the Luneta grandstand in downtown Manila later Sunday. Moments after she declared the Games open, fireworks lit up the night air over the Philippine capital.
She called sports "a unifying element in society," saying it had the potential to bring peace in the region and to her divided nation.
Antoinette Rivera, who competed in taekwondo for the Philippines at last year's Athens Olympics, carried the torch up to the grandstand and lit the Games cauldron.
In a gesture of unity, the president and leaders of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were in attendance during the opening ceremony.
Security was tight. More than 17,000 police and security forces are on alert in Manila--officials are concerned over recent deadly attacks by the communist New People's Army rebels in central and northern Philippines.
Al-Qaida-linked militants, including the homegrown Abu Sayyaf group and Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah, also are active in the country.
Badminton, one of the most high-profile sports at the Games, kicks off Monday. Top men's players include Malaysia's world number 3 Chong Wei Lee and Indonesian number 8 Taufik Hidayat, the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2005 world championships singles winner.
The 11-country regional competition, held every two years, ends December 5. (AP)
(November 28, 2005 issue)
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