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Monday, December 05, 2005
Gold rush powers RP to best finish yet
MANILA -- It was billed as Super Sunday at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, when 100-plus medals would decide the gold medal title.
Instead, it turned out to be just like any other day for the Philippines-winning more gold medals and dominating the 10 other countries in the competition like they had for the past week.
And completing the inevitable.
The Philippines won 25 gold medals Sunday-one-quarter of those on offer-to take an insurmountable lead over second-place Thailand. Ten years ago, when Manila last hosted these Games, the Philippines missed winning the title by a single gold.
The official SEA Games 2005 website reported that at day's end, the Philippines had 114 gold medals and a total haul of 287. Thailand came in second with 280 medals, but only 86 golds.
Robert Aventajado, chairman of the Philippine Olympics committee, told a Manila radio station that the gold rush could be a forerunner to better things at the next Olympics.
"This beautiful performance in the Southeast Asian Games should be sustained up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008," said Aventajado. "So we're working on a program to encourage our athletes to continue what they started."
The host country's gold medal pursuit began even before the sun rose Sunday. Christabel Martes won the women's marathon, which started before dawn because of the steamy tropical temperatures, and finished before most Filipinos had breakfast.
In the men's soccer final, Thailand won its seventh straight Southeast Asian Games title, beating Vietnam 3-0.
Only four medals will be decided on the final day Monday--the Men's and women's volleyball finals, and men's and women's standard chess finals.
Then it will be straight to the closing ceremonies, which will feature another appearance by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who opened the Games on November 27, the extinguishing of the flame and the handing over of the Games flag to Thailand, which will host the next edition of the Games in 2007.
The marathon featured just five male and seven female competitors, but it had its share of controversy: a Vietnamese male runner was disqualified for illegally pacing one of his female teammates who had placed second.
Boonchoo Jandacha of Thailand won the men's marathon in 2 hours, 29 minutes, 27 seconds and Martes the women's gold in 2:47.07.
The original silver medal winner in the women's division, Nguyen Thi Hoa, was disqualified and placed last when course marshals ruled that she had been illegally assisted by male runner Nguyen Van Khoa.
Meanwhile, Philippine officials said Thailand did not deserve the Games' men's boxing title, blaming bad officiating for its losses in all head-to-head final bouts with its main rival. The Philippine Olympic Committee protested against the "ugly footnote" of "doubtful judging," and asked the International Amateur Boxing Association to review the judging, which sparked a near-riot at the University of St. La Salle gymnasium in Bacolod last Saturday.
The Philippines and Thailand fought in four men's gold medal bouts, and Philippines team manager Ruben Roque said the hosts deserved at least one more gold from either featherweight Joegen Ladon or light welterweight Romeo Brin.
"The crowd could see the scoring," said Roque. "We can take it if the decisions were good. For Brin, we definitely won that fight."
After three straight losses, fans hurled bottles, coins and food toward the ring, prompting the stoppage of Sunday night's last fight between Filipino Reynaldo Galido, a former Asian Games winner, and Athens bronze medalist Suriya Prasathinpimai of Thailand.
Galido was down 11-4 after the first round, and unlikely to win. (AP)
(December 5, 2005 issue)
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