THE Philippine men's softball national team, RP Blu Boys, defeated the host team Singapore, 11-5, yesterday to complete a sweep in the preliminaries and advanced to the semifinal round as the top seed in the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore.
The Philippines is expecting eight gold medals in boxing as the boxers are expected to propel the team to the best finish in the SEA Games boxing competition.
The Philippines has the most boxers seeing action in the finals.
“Handang-handa ang mga boxers natin,” coach Nolito Velasco said.
“Nagbunga ang magandang training nila na nagfocus sa stamina, power at speed.”
The RP Blu Boys, who have four players from Cebu, improved to a 4-0 win-loss card while Singapore dropped to 3-1 record. The top two teams—RP Blu Boys and Singapore—will be locking horns again today in the semis match, with the winner advancing to the championship game.
The first to see action at 2 p.m. is former world champion and three-time Sea Games gold medal winner Josie Gabuco against Thai Chuthamat Raksat, a bronze medalist in the 2014 world championship, in the women’s light flyweight finals, followed by Irish Magno in the flyweight clash against Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Yen at 2:15 p.m. and bantamweight Nesthy Petecio against another Vietnamese, Le Thi Bang, at 2:30 p.m.
Four bets in the men’s division will also fight one after the other starting at 3 p.m. Light flyweight Rogen Ladon goes up against Indonesia’s Kornelis Kwangu Langu, flyweight Ian Clark Bautista takes on Singapore’s Mohamed Hamurdin Hamid, bantamweight Mario Fernandez battles Thailand’s Thanes Ongjunta and lightweight Junel Cantancio squares off with Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Hei.
Cebu's batters Jerome Bacarisas of the Philippine Air Force, Jasper Cabrera of the Philippine Navy and Oscar Bradshaw IV and Ben Maravilles of the Philippine Army will be the vital cogs in the team's semifinal campaign.
In the preliminary round, the RP Blu Boys showed its might beating Thailand, 8-1; defeated Malaysia, 8-1; ousted Indonesia, 10-8; and defeated Singapore, 11-5.