Gilas gold highlights Pinoys’ closing run

May 17, 2023

HAPPY BUNCH: Gilas players celebrate their title conquest.

PHNOM PENH. – Gilas Pilipinas put an exclamation point on the country’s campaign Tuesday, thumping a suddenly listless Cambodian side 80-69 to regain the gold medal that matters most to Filipinos in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.

The cage win came after arnis and freestyle wrestling delivered a pair of golden wins that raised the country’s total to 56 before 7 p.m.

Another gold, courtesy of Gretel de Paz in the 56kg class of kickboxing low kick event, made it 57 an hour later, well above the 52 gold medals won by the country when it finished fourth overall in the Vietnam Games last year.

Arnis ended the day with another gold in the women’s team anyo non-traditional open weapon category, giving the Pinoy contingent backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee 58 gold medals, 82 silvers and 113 bronze medals at press time, good for fifth overall.

Alvin Lobrequito took the honor of delivering the country’s 52nd gold by humbling his Thai opponent, Nattawut Kaewkhuanchum, 6-2 in the men’s freestyle wrestling event while arnis proponent Trixie Marie Lofranco delivered the 53rd gold by ruling the women’s individual anyo non-traditional open weapon category.

Another arnis entry, Crisamuel Delfin, topped the men’s anyo non-traditional event for the country’s 54th gold and another wrestler, Ronil Tubog, made it 55 by beating Indonesian Zainal Abidin in the men’s freestyle 61kg event, giving the wrestling team its fourth overall gold medal here.

“A lot of people doubted this team the first time we lost. But the first words I told them when we lost was this was the one we could afford. And I thought that was the loss that we needed,” said Gilas coach Chot Reyes, whose wards delivered the 56th gold.

“Win or lose, this was going to be my last SEA Games, I promised I’ll never coach in the SEA Games anymore. At least, I will go out with a gold medal,” Reyes added.

A day after ending the reign of Indonesia via an 84-76 win over last Monday, Gilas hurdled the final obstacle in its bid to reclaim its seat at the high table with a pesky defense that stopped the Cambodians’ usually high-octane offense.

The team’s solid defensive effort was in full display in the second quarter, where it scored 23 while limiting the hosts to just 11 to take a 44-33 halftime lead.

“We kept this team of what, five, six American imports to below 70 points, that is great defense, man,” said Reyes, who got his vindication with the win, after earning the ire of Filipino fans back home when the team lost the basketball gold to Indonesia in last year’s games.

The Philippines has won now 19 of 22 SEA Games men’s basketball titles since 1977.

Vietnam, striking heavily in martial arts, swimming and athletics, retained the overall championship, followed by Thailand, the next host in 2025, Indonesia; and first-time host Cambodia.

Kickboxer Gina Iniong won a silver medal in the kick light under 55kg class while a rush of bronze medals came in various fronts, one of them the bronze won by kickboxer Mikko Camingawan in the men’s under 54kg full contact event.

The Philippine taekwondo team capped a successful campaign here by winning four more bronze medals.

Joseph Chua (men’s under-65kg), Dave Cea (men’s -80kg), Baby Dessica Canabal (women’s -53kg) and Laila Delo (women’s -67kg) delivered podium finishes as the charging jins wrapped up their stint with six gold medals, one silver and eight bronzes.

The Filipinos easily surpassed their 2-5-3 gold-silver-bronze tally last year in Hanoi.

Weightlifter John Dexter Tabique also won a bronze in the men’s 89kg class, Abdul Barode finished third in the PUBG Mobile-Mixed Individual class in esports, judoka John Viron Ferrer also bagged a bronze in the men’s under 90kg class, while the national men’s beach volley team of Alnakran Abdilla, Jaron Requinton, Jaes Butraygo and Jude Garcia won a bronze, the first medal for volleyball here.

Women power fuels Pinoy drive

Jimmy A. Cantor

May 16, 2023

Doubly proud. Freestyle wrestler Christina Vergara, 44 (right) and daughter Cathlyn Gee flank Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham â€œBambolâ€ Tolentino after winning a gold and bronze medal, respectively, on Monday.

PHNOM PENH. – Hours after the celebration of Mother’s Day, women power carried the day on Monday as a 44-year-old mother starred in a gutsy five-gold medal harvest that pushed the Philippines past the 50-gold mark in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.

Cristina Vergara, 44, pressed into action as a substitute fighter when the country’s bet in the 65kg women’s category got injured, beat Cambodia’s Sambat Vannak via a 12-2 technical superiority to secure the gold in freestyle wrestling, leading two other female athletes who delivered golden wins for the day.

Vergara’s daughter, 18-year-old Cathlyn, competing in the 59kg class, made it a spectacular family affair in freestyle wrestling, winning a bronze medal. There was no immediate confirmation if it’s the first time a mother-and-daughter tandem from the Philippines scored the feat.

Weightlifter Vanessa Sarno started the day right for the Pinoy contingent, extending her reign in the women’s 71kg category in record fashion despite the lack of sleep, having come all the way from the Asian championships in Jinju, South Korea.

Sarno, 19, who won three silver medals in the Korean joust, cleared 105 pounds in the snatch in her third attempt, shattering her own record of 104 pounds set last year. She then lifted 120 on her first attempt in the clean and jerk for a total of 225 for the gold.

Female arnis exponent Ma. Ella Alcoseba delivered the country’s third gold for the day, ruling the women’s full contact live stick contest in the bantamweight class, while Dexler Sandigan Bolambao won the country’s fourth mint by topping the same weight class in the men’s division.

Kick boxer Jean Claude Saclag bagged the fifth gold by ruling the men’s low kick under 63.5kg category.

Gilas Pilipinas added to the country’s celebration by ending the one-year reign of Indonesia, scoring an 84-76 decision in their semis battle and arranging a rematch for the gold with Cambodia at 3 p.m. (4 p.m. in Manila) on Tuesday.

The Indonesians, who dethroned the Filipinos as the region’s basketball king last year, led 74-70 with seven minutes left, but Justin Brownlee, who had 15 points in the fourth, hit back-to-back treys as Gilas grabbed the lead at 76-74 and gained control the rest of the way.

The win arranged a grudge match against the souped-up Cambodian team of naturalized American players, who handed the Filipinos a bitter 79-68 spanking in the eliminations.

The five-gold haul pushed the Philippine squad, backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, within a gold of duplicating the country’s 52-gold haul last year in Vietnam.

Earlier in the day, POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino expressed confidence Pinoy athletes will surpass the Vietnam harvest, adding he expects the team to reach the 60-gold mark.

“We will surpass our medal tally in Vietnam,” said Tolentino. “It’s achievable. God-willing, it might (even) reach 60 (golds).”

In its Facebook page, the PSC welcomed the elder Vergara’s golden finish, saying: “Philippine wrestling team playing coach Cristina Vergara is more than ready to hang her Team Philippines jersey after successfully clinching the country’s 48th gold medal.”

Sent into action after the country’s original bet in the 65kg category, Levi Espuerta, got injured, Vergara won her third SEA Games gold on top of one silver and a bronze. She won her other gold medals in the 2003 and 2005 games.

“Di ko maipaliwanag ang emosyon ko, napakasaya ko,” said Vergara.

“I never thought I can still do it,” added Vergara, who came out of retirement several years ago after deciding to hang her jersey after the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand.

Cathlyn couldn’t duplicate her mother’s gold but made Vergara doubly proud. Ann Tuyet Tran of Vietnam won the gold in her class, with Salinee Srisombat of Thailand bagging the silver.

“I keep pushing her to train smart and harder because she has the opportunity to excel. She can still go to the Olympics because she’s still young,” Vergara said of Cathlyn, a first year BS Nutrition and Dietetics student at University of Santo Tomas.

Vergara’s gold was the second for wrestling here after Jason Balabal’s triumph in the men’s 87 kg Greco Roman event last Sunday.

“It’s a great improvement on our part after coming out with no gold medals in the last Vietnam Games,” Alvin Aguilar, the president of the Wrestling Association of the Philippines, said. “I am really happy that they delivered.”

Pinoy wrestler had seven silvers and five bronzes in last year’s Hanoi games.

The Gilas Pilipinas women’s squad humbled Malaysia 77-63 and claimed a silver, down from the team’s golden finish last year in Vietnam.

Kickboxer Renalyn Dacquel won the silver medal in the women’s full contact under 48kg Kickboxing event against Vietnamese Nga Nguyen Thi Hang while judoka Leah Jane Lopez bagged a bronze medal in the under 48 kg event, the same finish of Jeanalane Lopez in the under 44kg division.

Jason Huerte, Rheyjey Ortouste and Elly Jan Nituda won a bronze medal in the sepak takraw men’s doubles event while the men’s epee team in fencing — Jian Bautista, Rex dela Cruz, Lee Ergina and Noelito Jose — also won a bronze medal.

9-gold splurge powers Pinoy bid

Jimmy A. Cantor

May 15, 2023

ON TARGET: Carlo Paalam of the Philippines lands a blow to the body of Indonesian Aldoms Suguro en route to the gold medal in the bantamweight class

PHNOM PENH. – Tokyo Olympics silver medalists Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio scored convincing wins as the Philippines finally flexed its muscles and surged past Singapore for fifth place on the strength of a nine-gold surge Sunday in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.

As first-time host Cambodia celebrated the 70th birthday of King Norodom Sihamoni with a huge fireworks display, Paalam and Petecio led a 3-of-5 golden finish by Pinoy pugs at the close of boxing competitions, giving the boxing team four gold medals overall, counting featherweight Ian Clark Bautista’s win last Saturday.

Also adding to the country’s golden haul were arnis, which delivered two; and women’s weightlifting, women’s judo, esports and wrestling, which had one apiece, giving the country’s bid a big shot in the arm.

Paalam, who won a silver while fighting in the flyweight class in Tokyo, dominated Aldoms Suguro of Indonesia to rule the men’s bantamweight class while Petecio overwhelmed Indonesian Ratna Sari Devi in the women’s featherweight division.

Their victories sandwiched the gold medal victory of Paul Bascon over Rujakran Juntrong of Thailand in their light welterweight finals clash as Pinoy pugs surpassed their three-gold haul last year in Vietnam.

Weightlifter Elreen Ando got the ball rolling for Philippines early in the day by setting new records en route to victory in the 59kg class, while judoka Rena Furukawa retained her under 57kg women’s tiara, beating Chu Myat Noe Wai of Myanmar in a thrilling finale decided in sudden death to the delight of the Filipino crowd in Hall C of the Chroy Changvar Convention Center.

Furukawa led a one-gold, one-silver, one-bronze opening harvest for the Philippine judo team here.

Esports delivered its second gold through the Sibol men’s team of Rowgien Stimpson Unigo, coach Francis Glindro, David Canon, coach Vrendon Lin, Michael Angelo Sayson, Nowee Macasa, Angelo Kyle Arcangel and Marco Stephen Requitiano that swept Malaysia 3-0 in the finale of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang event and wrestler Jason Balabal topped the 82kg class.

Charlotte Ann Tolentino and Jedah Mae Soriano delivered the first two of an expected avalanche of gold in arnis, ruling the women’s full contact padded stick finals in the bantamweight and lightweight events, respectively.

The 9-gold haul for the day gave the Pinoy contingent backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee a total of 46 gold medals, enough to power the team to fifth place fast a fading Singapore, whose gold medal production remained stuck at 42 going into the last two days of action.

Matching the country’s fourth place finish last year in Vietnam, however, seemed an impossible task considering Indonesia and Cambodia have cracked the 60-gold mark.

Vietnam was on its way to taking the overall crown anew by surging past the 100-gold mark, with Thailand sure of taking at least second before it hosts the next edition of the games in 2025 with 90 gold medals.

Petecio’s younger brother, Norlan, settled for the silver after losing to Bunjong Sinsiri of Thailand while John Marvin, the fifth Pinoy pug to see action for the day, also won a silver after losing to a Thai fighter in the 80kg final bout.

Gilas Pilipinas’ women’s squad in regular basketball humbled Thailand 82-70 and improved to 4-1 in a tie with Malaysia.

With Afril Bernardino showing the way with 18 points, the Filipinas dictated the tempo of the match, turning back the Thais’ desperate comeback bid.

They clash with Malaysia for the silver medal on May 15.

Indonesia, which shocked the Filipinas 89-68 last Friday, looks set to win the women’s cage gold.

Furukawa proved too much for Chu Myat Noe Wai of Myanmar in their battle for the under 57kg class and delivered judo’s first gold medal here.

Ando, taking over from the absent Olympic champ Hidilyn Diaz, topped the women’s 59kg class with a total lift of 216kg punctuated by new games records of 118kg in the clean and jerk and 98kg in the snatch.

Another lifter, Rosalina Faustino, won a silver medal in the women’s 55kg category.

Table tennis contributed a bronze to the country’s tally courtesy of Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal in men’s doubles action.

Cray saves day for Pinoys

Jimmy A. Cantor

May 12, 2023

Golden finish. Hurdler Eric Shaun Cray runs with the Philippine flag after ruling the 400m hurdles event, his sixth straight win in SEA Games history.

PHNOM PENH. – Eric Shaun Cray handily won the 400m hurdles for the sixth straight time Thursday and saved the day for the Philippines’ free-falling campaign in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.

Bugged by a nagging sports hernia, Cray, 34, battled through the pain to clock 50.03 seconds at the Morodok Techno National Stadium, easily beating Natthapon Dansungnoen of Thailand (50.73) and Calvin Quek of Singapore (50.75).

Cray gave the Philippines its third gold in athletics after the record pole vault win of EJ Obiena and the breakthrough victory of long jumper Janry Ubas and said his next step is try to quality for the Paris Olympics next year.

He delivered the country’s 27th gold here on a day Pinoy athletes, backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, struggled anew against the gold-churning machines of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Starting the day in sixth place, the Pinoy contingent stayed there as of 8:30 p.m., with the Malaysian squad not far behind in seventh.

Vietnam showed the way with 57 gold medals, just one ahead of the Cambodian side that nearly swept all the gold medals staked for the day in kun khmer, a martial art indigenous to Cambodians, and three ahead of Thailand. Indonesia moved up to fourth, followed by the resurgent Singaporean squad in fifth.

Unless the other members of the national squad who are still in contention step up, the Philippines faces the grim prospects of finishing sixth or, worse, seventh. The country finished seventh in the medal tally in 2013 when the games were held in Myanmar with a measly haul of 29 gold, 34 silver and 38 bronze medals.

Among those who could play savior for the country are the boxers, nine of whom are in the finals, led by Tokyo Olympians Nesty Petecio and Carlo Paalam.

The others are Rogen Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista, Paul Bascon, John Marvin, Irish Magno, Riza Pasuit and Petecio’s younger brother, Norlan.

Still to plunge into action are the country’s bets in arnis who delivered a massive gold haul back in 2019 when the sport indigenous to the Philippines was first held, the taekwondo fighters, weightlifters and judo bets, among others.

The Gilas women blasted Singapore 94-63 for their second win in as many games while the men’s team dropped a 68-79 decision to Cambodia, a loss that could greatly hurt the squad’s bid to bounce back from a silver medal finish last year in Vietnam.

Among those who tried to infuse life into the Pinoy campaign were fencer Noelito Jose, women’s hurdler Robyn Brown, Kristian Narca in kun khmer, and the women’s team in esports’ Mobile Legends Bang Bang, who all settled for silver medals.

The esports team took a 2-1 lead over Indonesia in their best-of-five battle for the gold but failed to close out their opponents in the next round and ended up losing 2-3.

The defeat prevented the PH lady gamers from claiming the country’s first women’s crown in esports at the end of their 15-minute battle with the Indonesians.

Aside from his six gold medals in the hurdles, Cray also won the gold in the 100m during the 2015 Singapore Games and was also a member of the victorious 4×100 mixed relay team in 2019 in the Philippines.

“This means everything,” said Cray, catching his breath as a swarm of reporters surrounded him. “This is a product of hard work, dedication.

“You know, we just showed a lot of perseverance. I have a lot of drive, dedication for 10 years, ups and downs after injuries and everything I’ve been through,” said Cray, who is aching to make a return to the Olympics, to be held in Paris 2024.

The next step is the Asian Championships, a qualifying tournament for the Olympiad.
“That (Olympics) is the goal,” said Cray, who is still undecided on whether to shoot for a seventh straight 400m hurdles gold when the biennial meet is held in Thailand in 2025.

Pinoy gold drive sputters

Jimmy A. Cantor

May 11, 2023

PHNOM PENH. – Veteran Joseph Arcilla completed a dream golden run in the men’s individual soft tennis event Wednesday, averting what could have been a gold-medal shutout as the Philippine drive sputtered in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.

Bucking cramps, Arcilla, 37, humbled Muhammad Anugerah of Indonesia 4-1 in their title match and delivered the country’s third gold and the unofficial overall championship in the discipline that featured six nations with a 3-gold, 1-silver and 1-bronze haul.

In all, Arcilla, the younger brother of Johnny, a former regular on the national tennis team, scored four wins, including an 8-6 decision over Kawin Yannarit of Thailand in the semifinals where he dug deep to stay in the match despite cramping up.

“I had difficulty fighting the Thai, that’s why we reached 8-6. This is the reason why I had cramps after the game and in the finals. But I just always remembered what our psychologist told us, to just think positive when inside the court,” said Arcilla, who retained the men’s singles title.

Gilas Pilipinas opened its bid for a third straight women’s basketball crown, whipping Cambodia 114-54 at the Morodok Techo Elephant Hall 2.

But the Gilas men will be severely tested Thursday when the squad battles the naturalized-heavy Cambodian side, with the winner likely to gain the inside track in the battle for the gold.

Cambodia, coming off a golden win in the 3×3 event last Sunday, trounced Singapore 85-60 in its initial outing Wednesday in regular men’s basketball.

While the gold medal machines of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand were in full production mode, the Philippines slipped to fifth overall from fourth last Tuesday, raising concerns whether Pinoy athletes can muster enough strength to duplicate the country’s 52-gold haul last year in Vietnam, good for fourth in the medal tally.

As of 8:30 p.m., Vietnam showed the way with a harvest of 48-46-55, with host Cambodia a close second (46-41-51), followed by Thailand (44-41-51), and Indonesia (33-31-55).

In contrast, the Philippine delegation, backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, only had 26 gold medals to show, along with 44 silver and 54 bronze medals.

The 37-year-old Arcilla’s medal win, the country’s third in soft tennis, enabled Pinoy netters to secure the unofficial overall championship in the discipline but this hardly made up for the failure of the delegation to sustain its medal drive in other fronts, especially the medal rich sports of athletics and swimming.

A day after Janry Ubas finally become a SEA Games champion in long jump, delivering the country’s second gold after pole vaulter EJ Obiena’s win last Monday, the best athletics could muster was a bronze by Fil-Spanish John Cabang Tolentino in the 110m hurdles, where he clocked 13.855 seconds.

Nikki Zoleta bagged a silver in women’s individual soft tennis, one of five that Pinoy athletes won for the day, the others being in women’s six-a-side cricket, pencak silat, and two in sepak takraw and chinlone.

Pinoy swimmers were limited to one medal, a bronze, courtesy of Jarond Lang Hatch in the men’s 50m butterfly.

Raising hopes of a Pinoy fightback were the boxers, with seven of them advancing to the finals, led by Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nesthy Petecio who scored a 5-0 shutout unanimous decision victory over Vy Sreysros of Cambodia in the women’s featherweight class semis.

Also gaining finals berths were Rogen Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista, Norlan Petecio, John Marvin, Irish Magno and Riza Pasuit.

Yulo, gymnasts sparkle anew

Jimmy A. Cantor

May 10, 2023

PHNOM PENH. – Showing its vastly-improved depth, the national men’s gymnastics squad led by Carlos Yulo ended its campaign by winning three more gold medals Tuesday, leading a six-gold haul by the Philippines in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.

Inspired by earlier victories by two of his lesser-known teammates — John Ivan Cruz and Miguel Besana — Yulo dominated the parallel bars with 14.850 points to become the country’s first double gold medalist here, counting his runaway mint in the men’s individual all-around battle last Monday.

Drawing experience from his stint in the FIG World Cup Series, Besana ruled the men’s vault with a score of 14.250 points, while Cruz, Yulo’s second cousin born in Leveriza, just behind the Rizal Memorial Coliseum like the gymnastics ace, was superb in the floor exercise with 13.850 points.

“When Ivan (Cruz) and Miguel (Besana) won gold medals, I really tried hard to win a gold so we can take three,” said Yulo, who settled for a silver medal in the rings where Vietnam’s Phuong Thanh Dinh reigned supreme.

Yulo got back at Dinh in the parallel bars after the Vietnamese scored 14.400 points for silver while Malaysia’s Ng Chun Chen posted 13.100 to secure the bronze.

“I still feel blessed and happy for my teammates because of the medals that we’ve won’’ said Yulo, 23, a former two-time world champion.

Due to restrictions set by Cambodian organizers, the 4-foot-11 dynamo wasn’t able to duplicate his feat in Hanoi last year where he won five gold and two silver medals, making him the most bemedaled Filipino athlete.

The gymnastics team ended its campaign with four gold and two silver medals, the other silver coming from the men’s team event last Monday.

Delivering the other three gold medals were long jumper Janry Ubas, who finally realized his dream to become a SEA Games champion, ruling his pet event with a jump of 7.85; swimmer Teia Salvino, who broke the games and Philippine records in topping the 100m backstroke; and the soft tennis team that beat Indonesia 5-4, 2, 5-0 in their duel for the crown.

With the six-gold haul, the Filipino contingent, backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, raised the country’s harvest to 25 on top of 35 silver and 38 bronze medals, good for fourth overall as of 8 p.m. Tuesday.

First-time host Cambodia continued to show the way in the medal tally with a 37-36-35 harvest, with last year’s overall champion, Vietnam, hot on its heels with a harvest of 34-31-44. Thailand was running third with a 33-26-39 haul.

The golden jump was Ubas’ first win in the regional games since he first competed for the country in the 2015 SEA Games.

Over at the Chroy Changvar Center Hall, Irish Magno and Riza Pasuit whipped their semifinals opponents and assured themselves of silver medals in boxing action.

Magno, 31, a Tokyo Olympian, returned to the championship round of the women’s flyweight class since settling for a silver medal in Hanoi last May by scoring a 5-0 win over Indonesian Novita Sinadia. She will fight in the finals on Saturday.

Pasuit, 30, defeated Singaporean Nur Sabrina Binte Mohd Faizal via a 3-2 split decision in the lightweight class to barge into the gold medal round, where she will face Vietnamese Thi Linh Ha.

The World Cup-bound Filipinas scored a 2-1 victory over defending champion Vietnam but the heroics of Sarina Bolden and Halli Long weren’t good enough to push the team to the semifinals.

Myanmar repulsed Malaysia via a massive 5-1 rout at the Old Stadium in the other side of the city and finished tied with the Philippines at 2-0-1 but joined Vietnam in the semis with a better goal difference. The champs took the top berth with a 2-0-1 slate.

“We tried to win the game. But it wasn’t enough,” said Filipinas coach Allen Stajcic.

Gilas Pilipinas opened its bid for redemption with a lopsided 94-49 win over Malaysia at the Morodok Techo Elephant Hall 2, a victory that boosted the team’s fighting spirit ahead of its match on Thursday against a Cambodian side teeming with naturalized players.

After outscoring Malaysia 33-12 in the first quarter, Gilas never looked back and cruised to the 45-point win.

Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser led the way with 15 points, Justin Brownlee chipped in 11 in limited action, while Michael Phillips and his fellow collegiate players got a lot of exposure as Gilas ended the match with a 45-point margin.

Obstacle racers power 6-gold haul; Pinoys stay in the mix

Jimmy A. Cantor

May 8, 2023

TRIUMPHANT: The menâ€™s obstacle course relay team of Ahgie Radan, Elias Tabac, Mervin Guarte, and Jay-ar de Castro whoop it up after their gold medal win.

PHNOM PENH. – For the second straight day, obstacle course racers remained perfect, leading a six-gold medal charge Sunday that kept the Philippines in the mix of things in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.

Putting the finishing touches to a scintillating stint in the four-day event, the men’s and women’s relay teams proved too much for the opposition, taking the last two mints to complete a four-gold sweep, further reinforcing their status as the best in the region.

With another big crowd watching at the Chroy Chavrang Convention Center Car Park, the men’s quartet of Ahgie Radan, Elias Tabac, Mervin Guarte, and Jay-ar de Castro hurdled all the obstacles in a new global standard of 24.47 seconds to beat Malaysia’s Ghalib Mohamad Azimi, Mohd Redha Rozlan, Nuur Hafis Said Alwi and Yoong Wei Theng, who clocked 25.15.

Earlier, Sandi Menchi Abahan, Mecca Cortizano, Milky Mae Tejares and Maritess Nocyao reigned supreme in the women’s category with a world mark of 33.73 at the expense of Indonesia’s Anggun Yolanda, Ayu Pupita, Mudji Mulyani and Rahmayuna Fadillah (35.06).

STILL QUEEN: Kim Mangrobang glows for the second straight time as the duathlon winner.

The other gold medals were delivered by reigning duathlon queen Kim Mangrobang, the women’s soft tennis squad of Bien Zoleta-Mañalac and Princess Catindig, jiu jitsu fighter Marc Lim who finally triumphed in his third SEA Games, and karateka Jamie Lim, who bounced back from her bronze medal finish in Vietnam last year.

Mangrobang kept her crown in the 5k run, 20km bike and 2.5k run finale at the Kep Beach Resort, Zoleta-Mañalac and Catindig completed a championship sweep capped by a 5-2 victory over Chatmanee and Napawee Jankiaw of Thailand in the women’s soft tennis doubles finals, Marc Lim beat Vietnam’s Dang Dinh Tung for the men’s ne-waza nogi 69kg gold, and Jamie Lim returned to her rightful place on top of the SEA Games karate world by ruling the women’s -61kg women’s individual kumite at the Chroy Changvar Center Hall A.

The Filipinos, backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, ended the day with 13 gold medals in a tie with Indonesia for second, just ahead of Vietnam which had 12.

First-time host Cambodia was on top of the heap with 25 gold, 19 silver and 19 bronze medals, mainly through its domination of indigenous sports like kun-bokator, an ancient form of martial art; kun khmer, and vovinam.

The Filipinos also had 14 silver medals, one of them coming from the Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 men’s squads that lost 15-20 to the Cambodian team that featured three naturalized players in Brandon Peterson, Sayeed Pridgett, and Darrin Dorsey, leaving PSC Commissioner Fritz Gaston referring to the squad as the “US” team.

The women’s 3×3 team also lost to Vietnam 16-21 after ousting Thailand 21-19 in an emotional victory earlier.

Karate also contributed four silver medals for the day, courtesy of kumite fighters Matthew Manantan (men’s -67 kg), Ivan Agustin (-84 kg), Remon Misu (-68 kg women) and Ariane Brito (+68kg women).

But Cambodia’s bid for a Cinderella finish will be severely tested when the region’s big guns, among them the Filipinos, Thais, Indonesians, and Malaysians, press their bids in several martial arts disciplines and athletics, which get going Monday at the Morodok Techo Stadium.

Cambodia, which has imposed a handicapping system by limiting the opposition to 70 percent of entries in martial art disciplines and even gymnastics, is hoping to build enough cushion in the next few it is hoping would hold even with hundreds of gold medals still at stake.

Lim, the daughter of former PBA star Samboy Lim, went home with a bronze medal in Vietnam last year but regained the crown she won in 2019 when she humbled Cambodian Vann Chakriya in the title match 3-1.

“I had less (time) for social media, no Tiktok and IG (Instagram) for the last few months but now everything is okay,” Lim, now a two-time SEA Games gold medalist, enthused after her impressive win.

Two of the three boxers that went into action Sunday — Rogen Ladon and Ian Clark Bautista — assured themselves of bronze medals after pounding out big wins while James Palicte bowed out of contention.

Ladon, the winner of 2019 and 2022 SEA Games gold medals, overcame the hugging and holding strategy of Indonesian Ingatan Ilahi to score a 5-0 unanimous decision win and advance to the flyweight semifinals against Malaysian Muhammad Abdul Qaiyum Ariffin.

Bautista, a two-time SEA Games gold medalist, beat Van Duong Nguyen of Vietnam via a referee-stopped-contest due to injury after inflicting a cut on his foe’s left eyebrow in their featherweight duel. He will next face Asri Udin of Indonesia in the semifinals.

Palicte lost to Van Ratha of Cambodia via split decision in the light welterweight quarterfinals.

Jiu jitsu bet breaks ice for Pinoys

Jimmy A. Cantor

May 5, 2023

First gold. Jenna Kaila Napolis pins down Cambodian Jessa Khan en route to a 2-0 victory Thursday, delivering the first gold for the Philippines in the 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games.

PHNOM PENH. – Jiu jitsu fighter Jenna Kaila Napolis broke the ice for the Philippines Thursday while Angel Gwen Derla ended the day with a rousing win in an ancient Cambodian sport in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center here.

Napolis, 25, swept all her four assignments in the women’s ne-waza GI 52kg class, including the gold medal showdown against hometown bet Jessa Khan 2-0, shocking a huge crowd expecting a huge win by their countrywoman, a 2018 Asian Games gold medalist.

“It was surreal. I still couldn’t believe I won,” said Napolis, who scored a revenge of sorts, having lost to Khan in the gold medal match of the 49kgs class in the 2019 Games in Manila.

Derla shared the day’s honors by winning a gold medal in the female bamboo shield artistic form of kun-bokator, an ancient Cambodian martial art making its debut in the games, where another Pinoy entry, Mark James Lacao, won a silver.

Going into the official opening ceremony Friday, the Philippines was running second in the medal tally (as of 8 p.m.) with a haul of two gold, one silver and three bronze medals, with first-time host Cambodia leading the way with four gold and four silver medals. Thailand was running third with one gold, one silver and one bronze, followed by Laos (1-0-2).

“I really wanted to win against her this time,” said Napolis, who scored the clinching point in the dying seconds that relegated Khan to the silver medal.

“One big congratulations for one of our female athletes breaking the ice for Team Philippines in these SEA Games,” said Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, who advocated for a female-dominated contingent in the parade of athletes during the Games’ opening ceremony on Friday.

Philippine Sports Commission chief Richard Bachmann had the wonderful privilege of awarding the country its first gold medalist in his first official major international function as chairman of the government sports agency.

“I had the privilege of being in the medal ceremony for our first gold medal winner, Kaila.

Congratulations once again,” Bachmann said.

“I also want to congratulate Harvey and Karl for bringing in the first medal of Team Philippines. It is such a thrill to start counting medals and see how the hard work of our athletes are translating into these victories. Job well done!” Bachmann added, referring to Karl and Harvey Navarro who won a bronze in the form event of jiu jitsu.

Napolis opened her campaign with a 50-0 win over Singapore’s May Yong The, then thumped Thailand’s Nuchanat Singchalad, 3-0, and Vietnam’s Thi Huyen Dang 50-0.

Dianne Ruado Bargo and Isabela Dominique Montaña also won a bronze in the form event of jiu jitsu.

The Navarros lost their matches to Thailand’s Nawin Kokaew and Panuawat Deeyatam, 68-63.5; Cambodia’s Kongmona Mithora and Touch Pikada, 66-59; and Vietnam’s Dinh Khai Ma and Ke Duong Trinh, 64-59 but went home with the bronze, along with the Vietnamese.

Bargo and Montaña also went home with the bronze medal in the women’s contest after scoring 40.00 behind eventual gold medalist Kunsatri Kumsroi and Suphawadee Kaeosrasaen (48.000) of Thailand and Cambdia’s Heng Seavheang and Tin Sovanlina (42.5000) of Cambodia.

Obstacle racers stayed on course for their four-gold target as the team’s aces advanced to the men’s and women’s team relay finals at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center Car Park a day before the games formally opens at the Morodok Techo Stadium, a 60,000-seat structure built in the shape of a “sailing boat” with two sharp structures reaching almost 100 meters into the sky and surrounded by a moat in the ancient Angkor style.

A day after forging all-Pinoy championships in the individual men’s and women’s categories, the quartet of Jayr De Castro, Mervin Guarte, Elias Tabac and Ahgie Radan and female counterparts Mhick Tejares, Sandi Abahan, Tess Nocyao and Mecca Cortizano took care of business to earn their spots in Sunday’s finale.

The men’s team, which qualified as No. 2 in the heats with a time of 25.866 seconds, will dispute the gold with Malaysia’s Ghalib Mohamad Azimi, Mohd Redha Rozlan, Nuur Hafis Said Alwi and Yoong Wei Theng, who submitted the fastest qualifying clocking of 25.6236.

The ladies clocked 40.1780 in the preliminaries and arranged a title duel with Indonesia’s Anggun Yolanda, Ayu Pupita, Mudji Mulyani and Rahmayuna Fadillah, who had the best time of 35.0435.

The Obstacle Sports Team’s finals qualification came on the heels of the record-breaking runs of Mark Rodelas and Precious Cabuya in individual play, where they are pitted in a Philippines-vs-Philippines golden showdown against 2019 champ Kevin Pascua and Kaizen dela Serna, respectively.

If successful, the delegation will complete another sweep of the SEA Game action. Back in 2019, they scooped all six golds at home.

Obstacle course coach Kristian Guerrero said: “We’re doing good, all individual and team relays will battle for gold on May 6 and 7, so we’re doing okay.”

Obstacle racing aces poised to deliver first gold for Pinoys

Jimmy A. Cantor

May 4, 2023

WELCOME: Members of Team Philippines, led by Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham â€œBambolâ€ Tolentino, Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann and POC secretary-general Atty. Ed Gastanes and deputy secretary-general Karen Caballero, are welcomed at dawn Wednesday by SEA Games organizers at the Phnom Penh international airport.

PHNOM PENH. – Filipino standouts in Obstacle racing flexed their muscles early on in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games Wednesday, smashing a pair of world records in the qualifying heats and moving into position to deliver the country’s first gold medal here.

Precious Cabuya touched off a swashbuckling day for Philippine Obstacle Course Race aces at the OCC Wedding Center, covering the 100m course in 33.1278 seconds to lead compatriot Kaizen dela Serna in an all-Filipina duel for the women’s gold.

Dela Serna, owner of the erstwhile global mark of 35.42 seconds, submitted a personal-best 34.8634 during the initial runs to set up their finals clash on Saturday.

Filipino aces also dominated action in the men’s side, with Mark Julius Rodelas ripping his own world standard of 26.42 seconds with a roaring 25.0921 seconds in the heats.

Rodelas forged a title showdown with 2019 SEAG king Kevin Pascua, who ranked second with a new personal best of 26.1896.

Pilipinas Obstacle Sports Federation (POSF) president Atty. Al Agra said Rodelas and Cabuya carved their performances in history books as World Obstacle marks and subject to confirmation, Guinness World Records.

The OCR racers are bent on serving as a gold mine here for the Filipino contingent backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee like they did in 2019 at home, where they completed an unprecedented six-gold sweep.

The women’s crew of Milky Mae Tejares, Mecca Cortizano, Sandi Abahan and Tess Nocyao and the men’s squad of Ahgie Radan, Elias Tabac, Mervin Guarte and Jay-R de Castro looks to duplicate the feat over in the team relay preliminaries today, Thursday.

“Sana tuloy-tuloy,” Agra said ahead of the 8 a.m. hostilities in team relay. — Jimmy A. Cantor

Keeping Tatang’s legacy alive

Jimmy A. Cantor

January 30, 2023

In 2006, Henry Sy Sr opened SM Mall of Asia, the country’s largest mall back then and anchored the development of a 170-acre reclaimed property now known as the Mall of Asia Complex.

Today, there is practically an SM mall in every major city in the country, 82 in total, plus 7 seven more in China.

This is the grand legacy left by a simple man who rose from rag to riches, to hordes of people of all shapes, ages and tastes who troop and will troop for generations to these landmarks, both the massive kind and the modestly outfitted, across the country.

He changed the way the Filipino shops, dines and entertains with his family and friends.

Even government today has presence in those malls, to be closer to those they serve. An SM mall is a mecca for the weary, for the happy, for the ones who just watch other people live their lives away from all the care in the world. And it’s the vision of one man who truly understood what the regular Filipino wants.

Father of Philippine retail industry. Pioneer in mall development. Epitome of the rise from rags to riches. The quintessential entrepreneur. That’s Tatang.

From helping his father run two sari-sari stores at the age of 12,.–fondly called Tatang by friends and associates–ventured into shoe business and turned it into the largest conglomerate in the country involved in retail, banking, property, tourism and equity investments in a number of other businesses totaling P980 billion.

Sy topped the Forbes Philippines Richest List for 11 years in a row, through 2018, starting at $5 billion in 2010 and was worth an estimated $19 billion when he died on January of 2019.

But unlike most of the billionaires in the country today, Sy was not born with a silver spoon. He had a dream and did everything to make it come true.

According to SM Investments, Sy’s holding company, he landed in Manila in 1936 from Xiamen, China at the age of 12 to join his father who, at that time, was running two sari-sari stores — the family’s main source of income. After the war ended in 1945, he ventured into selling American shoes imported by enterprising GIs.

He later saw the opportunities of opening a shoe store, and not long after, he was managing three shoe stores in partnership with friends.

He opened ShoeMart in Carriedo in 1958. He went on to open another store also in downtown Manila. ShoeMart Makati opened its doors to the public in 1963 and ShoeMart Cubao followed in 1967.

In 1972, two months after Martial Law was declared, ShoeMart in Carriedo was transformed into the first of Sy’s department stores. Three years later, in 1975, Sy rebranded ShoeMart and named it SM.

The natural progression of store to mall happened when Sy opened his first mall, SM City North EDSA, in November of 1985. It has 125,000 square meters of retail space.

This started the “mall phenomenon” and Sy opened SM City Sta. Mesa in 1990, SM Megamall in 1991, and SM City Cebu in 1993.

He also opened his first mall in Xiamen, China in 2001.

For over six decades, SM has demonstrated its leading presence in retail, banking, and property development, innovating to provide best-value in products and services across various customers.

In 1994, the mall business he started in the 1980s would go public under SM Prime Holdings Inc., incorporated for the purpose of holding Sy’s retailing business.

This would then be followed by the listing of SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) in 2005, which holds interest not just in SM Prime but in other SM Group businesses that include lender BDO Unibank Inc. and China Banking Corp.

SMIC is a leading Philippine company that is invested in market leading businesses in retail, banking and property. It also invests in ventures that can capture the high growth opportunities in the emerging Philippine economy.

SMIC’s retail operations under SM Retail Inc. are the country’s largest and most diversified with its food (SM Markets, WalterMart, Alfamart), non-food (The SM Store) and specialty retail stores which are leading players that provide consumers with an aspirational lifestyle, reliable service, quality products and consistent convenience.

SMIC’s property arm, SM Prime, has become one of the largest integrated property developers in the country and in Southeast Asia with interests in malls, residences, office buildings, resorts, hotels and convention centers and tourism-related property developments.

SM Prime currently has 82 malls in and outside Metro Manila and 7 shopping malls in China, totaling 10.2 million square meters of gross floor area (GFA). In the Philippines, they have a total of 18,349 tenants and 1,827 tenants in China.

Aside from the mall, SM Prime has 83 residential projects, 18 office buildings and 17 hotels and convention centers.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, it had P979.00 billion in market capitalization, P804.40 billion in total assets and posted P82.32 billion in total revenues.

SM Prime goes beyond mall development and management through its units and subsidiaries. SM Development Corp. (SMDC) is the residential business component that sells affordable condominium units. SM Prime’s commercial business units, the Commercial Property Group (SMCPG) is engaged in the development and leasing of office buildings in Metro Manila. Its Hotels and Convention Centers (SMHCC) business unit develops and manages various hotel and convention centers across the country.

SMIC has the largest banking footprint in the Philippines through BDO Unibank, Inc. and China Banking Corp.

BDO is the Philippines’ largest bank in terms of total resources, loans and deposits and is also the market leader in most key business segments such as investment banking, asset management, wealth management, remittances, credit cards, insurance and leasing.

BDO grew its net income to P40 billion in the first nine months of 2022 from P32.4 billion in the comparative period the previous year. Total capital increased to P444.6 billion, with capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and common equity tier 1 (CET1) Ratio both comfortably above regulatory minimum at 14.4 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively.

BDO holds 18 percent of the country’s market share, with assets totaling P3.818 trillion.

China Bank, meanwhile, is the fifth largest bank in terms of assets, loans and deposits. The bank posted a consolidated net income of P11.2 billion for the first nine months of 2022, 35 percent higher compared to the same period the previous year.

China Bank maintained its balance sheet strength, with P1.3 trillion in assets.

SMIC’s investments are in integrated resorts through Belle Corp., in copper mining through Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., in community mall chain CityMall, office towers under the NEO Subsidiaries and Neo Associates, in logistics firm 2GO Group, in the country’s leading bakeshop Goldilocks, and in Philippines Urban Living Solutions Inc, the largest co-living provider in the country which manages and operates MyTown.

In 2019, SMIC entered into a joint venture with Grab Philippines as part of the company’s move toward end-to-end solutions and digital innovations in its businesses.

In 2017, Sy stepped down as chairman of SMIC and was given the honorary title of chairman emeritus as recognition for being the founder of the SM Group.

His children–Teresita, Elizabeth, Henry Jr., Hans, Herbert and Harley, now hold key positions in various Sy-owned companies and subsidiaries.

According to Forbes, their combined net worth amounted to $12.6B as of August 2022, making them the country’s richest.

Teresita, the eldest, is the vice chairperson of SMIC and adviser to the Board of SM Prime.

She also sits as chairperson of SM Retail Inc. She is also the chairperson of BDO and serves as the chairperson and/or director of various subsidiaries and affiliates of BDO such as BDO Private Bank, Inc. and BDO Foundation Inc. She also serves as adviser to the Board of One Network Bank Inc.

Elizabeth is an adviser of SM Investments, a post she has held since 2012. She is the second child and is active in the group’s tourism, leisure and hospitality operations and serves as chairperson and president of SMHCC.

Henry Jr. is the vice chairman of SMIC and chairman of SM Prime. He is also the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of SMDC, chairman of Synergy Grid & Development Philippines, Inc. and vice chairman of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines. He is responsible for the real estate acquisitions and development activities of the SM Group which include the identification, evaluation, and negotiation for potential sites as well as the input of design ideas.

Hans, the fourth child, stepped down as president of subsidiary SM Prime in 2016 and remains a director. Hans is currently the chairman of the board of China Bank and has been a member of the Board since 1986. He also serves as director and chairman of the executive committee of SM Prime, adviser to the board of SMIC, chairman of the board of trustees of National University, Inc., and holds other key positions in several companies within the SM Group.

Herbert was first elected to the China Bank Board in 1993. He also serves as chairman of Supervalue, Inc., Super Shopping Market Inc., Sondrik Inc., and Sanford Marketing Corp., and as director of SM Prime and National University.

Harley is the executive director of SMIC. He is the co-vice chairman and treasurer of SM Retail. He is a director of China Bank and other companies within the SM Group and Adviser to the Board of Directors of BDO Private Bank.

He changed the way the Filipino shops, dines and entertains with his family and friends. Even government today has presence in those malls, to be closer to those they serve. An SM mall is a mecca for the weary, for the happy, for the ones who just watch other people live their lives away from all the care in the world. And it’s the vision of one man who truly understood what the regular Filipino wants.

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