PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: The 32nd Southeast Asian Games has finally come to a close with the Philippines placing fifth in the biennial event with 58 gold medals, 86 silvers, 116 bronzes and a total of 260 medals.

While the Philippines dropped from fifth place to fourth and compiled seven less medals from its total last year (227) in the Hanoi Games, the country produced six more medals than what it amassed in Vietnam (52).

Unheralded compared to the other sports, arnis, the country’s national sport, turned out to be a mine when it comes to the Philippine gold medal drive as the arnisadors produced six golds with two silvers and four bronzes in 12 events.

Trixie Mary Lofranco stamped her class in the women’s individual anyo non-traditional open weapon category event, with her gold medal on the final day of competitions on Tuesday, May 16 being the Philippines’ 53rd overall, assuring that the country would surpass its gold medal haul in Vietnam.

Seizing golds too were Crisamuel Delfin (men’s individual anyo/ forms competition), Ma. Ella Alcoseba (full contact livesticks competition women’s -50kg), Dexler Bolambao (full contact livesticks men’s competition men’s 55-60kg), Jedah Mae Soriano (full contact padded point competition women’s 50-55kgs), and Charlotte Tolentino (full contact padded point competition women’s -50kgs).

Taekwondo jins were right up there with their arnis counterparts, likewise producing six golds, two from recognized poomsae and four from kyorugi.

Patrick Perez notched a gold in the men’s individual recognized poomsae while the trio of Jocel Ninobla, Nicole Labayne, and Aidaine Laxa grabbed one in the women’s team event.

Tokyo Olympian Kurt Barbosa (men’s 54kg) Arven Alcantara (men’s 68kg), Samuel Morrison (men’s 87kg), and Rio Olympian Kirstie Elaine Alora (women’s 73kg), in that order and in succession on May 13, ruled their respective events to produce a gold each.

The Philippines also squeezed the bulk of its gold medals from the sports of obstacle course race, boxing, and wrestling.

In the obstacle course race, the Filipinos actually swept the competition to win four gold medals on top of two silvers, which was also won by Pinoys.

Precious Cabuya set the tone for the Philippine domination in the sport as she clocked a world record of 32.73 seconds to top the women’s individual race, beating fellow Filipino Kaizen Dela Cerna in the final. The men’s final also featured an all-Filipino clash with Jaymark Rodelas clocking 25.19 seconds to defeat Kevin Pascua and get the gold.

Then, Sandi Menchi Abahan, Mecca Cortizano, Milky Tejares, Maritess Nocyao clocked 33.73 seconds to win the women’s relay team gold as JayR de Castro, Mervin Guarte, Elias Tabac, and Ahgie Radan timed 24.47 seconds to grab the gold medal in the men’s team and complete the Philippine sweep of the sport.

In boxing, Tokyo Olympians Carlo Paalam (men’s 54 kg), Nesthy Petecio (women’s 57 kg) made their way back to the top as they topped their respective events to both win their second SEA Games gold medals.

Ian Clark Baustista (men’s 57 kg) defended his title as Paul Bascon (men’s 60 kg) made a winning debut in the SEA Games as four of 10 Pinoy pugs punched their way to the gold.

Filipino wrestlers also produced four golds as Jason Balabal topped the men’s 82kg class, Alvin Lobreguito the men’s 57kg, Ronil Tubog the men’s 61kg, and Cristina Vergara, at age 44, the women’s freestyle 65kg class.

Kickboxing was a gold mine for the Philippines as well.

Kickboxers Jean Claude Saclag (men’s lowkick -63.5kg event), Gretel De Paz (women’s -56kg lowkick), and Claudine Veloso (women’s -52kg) came through in the nick of time to give the Philippines additional boost in its final gold medal push in the last two days of the competition.

Saclag won his gold on the penultimate day of the competition on the 15th while De Paz and Veloso delivered the 57th and 58th overall Philippine golds, respectively, on the final day of the Games on the 16th.

Arnis, taekwondo, obstacle course race, boxing, wrestling, and kickboxing athletes combined for 27 gold medals, practically half of the Philippine gold medal haul.

Winning golds in record-setting fashion

Three Filipino athletes — weightlifters Elreen Ando and Vanessa Sarno and swimmer Xiandi Chua — won gold and established new records in their championship runs.

Ando, a Tokyo Olympian, established a new SEA Games standard on May 14 in the women’s 59 kg class with a total lift of 216 kg.

Her best lifts in snatch (98 kg) and in clean and jerk (118 kg) are also new records.

Sarno defended her women’s 71kg title in a manner that was as if she was lifting bamboo sticks and not barbells. She raised 105 kg in snatch, eclipsing the 104 she set in the Hanoi Games last year.

The 19-year-old lifted 120kg in clean and jerk for a total of 225 kg. She would have tried to break her 135 record in clean and jerk and total of 239 but opted not to as her left knee was tight during her competition on May 15.

Meanwhile, Chua posted a new SEA Games record time of 2:13.20 in the women’s 200m backstroke on May 8 for the gold.

Like weightlifting, swimming also produced two gold medalists in Chua and Teia Salvino, who ruled the women’s 100m backstroke.

Weightlifting and swimming as well as karate actually produced a bulk of medals for the Philippines.

Weightlifting totalled seven medals, with the other five being four silvers and one bronze. Swimming delivered the most medals for the Philippines with 16. The other 14 were six silvers and eight bronzes.

Karate was second in medal production for the Philippines with a total of nine – two golds, six silvers, and one bronze. The two gold medalists were Sakura Alforte (women’s individual kata) and Jamie Lim (women’s kumite -61kg).

Back to the top

Highlighting the Philippines’ 58-gold medal haul in the Cambodia Games haul was the successful redemption bid of Gilas Pilipinas in the men’s basketball — a sport loved by millions of Filipinos.

After failing to take its 14th straight gold in Hanoi, the Philippine men’s basketball team redeemed itself by taking down last year’s finals tormentor Indonesia in the semifinals, 84-76, and getting back at host Cambodia in the finals, 80-69, on the final day of the Games on May 16. — Niel Victor C. Masoy