THE Philippines had a very productive weekend in the 31st Southeast Asian Games after grabbing its seventh gold medal on Saturday, May 14, 2022 in Vietnam.
The Philippines’ sixth and seventh gold medals came from the Triathlon event at the Sunset Bay in Tuan Chau.
Fernando Casares bagged the gold medal in the Men’s Individual event. Casares beat fellow Pinoy Andrew Kim Remolino, who finished second for the silver medal, and Indonesia’s Ronald Bintang, who finished third for the bronze.
Kim Mangrobang, in the meantime, won the gold medal in the Women’s Individual event, beating Indonesia’s Inge Prasetyo and fellow Filipino Raven Tan, who bagged the bronze medal.
The other gold medals for the Philippines came from Kickboxing, Kurash and Gymnastics.
Olympian Carlos Yulo topped the Men’s Artistic All-Around event in Gymnastics, Jack Escarpe won the -73 KG event in Kurash, MMA fighter Gina Iniong won the Women’s Low Kick -60 KG in Kickboxing and John Claude Saclag won the Men’s Low Kick -63.5 KG event in Kickboxing.
Yulo along with Jan Gwynn Timbang, Juancho Miguel Eserio, John Ivan Cruz, Justine Ace De Leon and John Matthew Vergara won the silver in the Men’s Artistic Team in Gymnastics. Four kickboxers also won silver medals in their respective events—Renalyn Dacquel, Gretel de Paz, Zaphanya Ngaya and Claudine Decena. Jones Inso and Agatha Wang also bagged silver medals in their respective events in Wushu, while Joanie Delgaco also nabbed a silver in the Women’s Single Sculls event in Rowing.
The Philippines also won 11 bronze medals in the last two days.
The Philippines is still in fourth place in the medal tally behind No. 1 Vietnam, No. 2 Indonesia and No. 3 Malaysia. The Philippines has a total of 34 medals in the tournament—seven gold medals, 14 silver medals and 14 bronze medals.
Meanwhile, the Philippines Under-23 Azkals were booted out of the Men’s Football Tournament after a 4-0 loss to Indonesia last Friday, May 13.
Muhamad Ridwan scored in the 18th minute,while Rizky Ridho doubled the lead with a goal in the 44th minute.
Egy Maulana Vikri made it 3-0 with a 74th-minute goal and then 17-year-old winger Marselino Ferdinan finished off the Azkals with an 85th-minute penalty goal.
The Philippine delegation expects to add more gold medals with games being played as of press time.