HANOI. – Evergreen Eric Cray extended his reign as the 400-meter hurdles’ king, taekwondo produced a second gold courtesy of Kurt Bryan Barbosa, Rubilen Amit delivered the first mint in billiards, and a Muay Thai women’s pair also triumphed Tuesday as the Philippine gold machine slowed down in the 31st Southeast Asian Games here.

Given up for dead by critics after missing the Tokyo Olympics due to injury, the 33-year-old Cray returned with a vengeance, clocking 50.41 seconds for his fifth straight 400m gold in a reign that started during the biennial meet in Myanmar.

Also the winner of the 2015 century dash in Singapore and a member of the winning 4x100m mixed relay team in 2019, Cray is expected to suit up in the 100 meters on Wednesday to shoot for a personal eighth gold medal at the My Dinh National Stadium.

“That would be intense, so I will try to rest up tonight,” said Cray, the 2017 Asian Athletics champion.

With Philippine Olympic Committee President and Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino watching, Barbosa routed Jaijulla Panachai of Thailand 16-7 in the men’s minus 54kg of taekwondo at the Tay Ho Gymnasium, adding to the golden win of Jocel Lyn Ninoble in women’s poomsae last Sunday.

Billiards, which has been a constant source of pride in the international scene, helped propped up the country on a lean day, with Amit beating Jessica Chan of Singapore 7-1 in the women’s finals of 9-ball singles at the Hadong District Sporting Hall.

Another sure gold will come from billiards on Wednesday, with Carlo Biado, the reigning US Open champion, facing Johann Chua in an all-Filipino finals in men’s 9-ball singles.

The Muay Thai tandem of Islay Erika Bomogao and Rhichein Yosorez perked up the sagging Pinoy spirit later in the day by topping the women’s waikru mai muay contest.

With just four golds at press time, a day after a 10-gold surge, the Philippines kept its hold of third place overall in the medal standings with 34 golds, 37 silvers and 47 bronzes, with second placer Thailand threatening to move away with a 40-40-62 haul.

Host Vietnam continued to widen its lead with a 95-62-62 count, with Singapore in fourth (27-31-32), followed by Indonesia (25-38-35).

Pinoy athletes also won four silver medals, two of them in athletics, on top of eight bronzes.

Gilas Pilipinas proved too strong for Cambodia, scoring a runaway 100-32 win at the Thanh Tri Gymnasium, while the Gilas women, bolstered by a rousing opening-day win over Indonesia, faces a big test Wednesday when it battles a Thai side seeking revenge.

Lebron Lopez shone in his SEA Games debut, wowing the crowd with his high-flying moves, and finished with 17 points, five rebounds and two blocks as Gilas scored its second straight win, a day after holding off perennial rival Thailand 76-73.

Cray fell short of his time of 50.21 seconds in the 2019 Philippine SEA Games but it was enough to foil the challenge of hometown favorite Cong Lich Quach, who finished with 50.82. Singapore’s Jun Jie Calvin Quek bagged the bronze with 51.19.

Cray, a Fil-American, holds the SEA Games record of 49.40.

The other Filipino hurdler in Francis Medina ended in fifth with 51.77, just behind Vietnam’s Duc Son Nguyen’s 51.40.

Cray’s gold was the fourth for the athletics contingent here, to go with Ernest John Obiena’s record-smashing performance in pole vault, William Morrison’s shotput triumph, and Clinton Kingsley Bautista’s new national record of 13.78 seconds in the 110m hurdles that broke his own mark of 13.97 set during the 2019 SEA Games.

Efren “Bata” Reyes remained in the running in the 1-cushion carom singles as well as Chezka Centeno, who is still in the hunt in 10-ball-singles where she is the reigning champion.

HANOI. – Carlos Yulo completed a golden double while dancesport scored four rousing victories Monday as the Philippines came up with its best performance yet in the 31st Southeast Asian Games here, going on a 10-gold medal rush to stay on the coattails of Thailand in their heated battle for second overall.

Yulo, 22, expectedly triumphed in the apparatus where he is the reigning world champion, dominating the vault finals and adding a surprise gold in the horizontal bars as he ended his stint here with a shot at becoming the best male athlete.

After wowing the crowd at the Quan Ngua Sports Palace with a runaway victory in the vault where he scored 14.700 points, Yulo returned hours later and tied for first in the horizontal bars with Ding Phuong Thanh of Vietnam, both scoring 13.867 points.

The horizonal gold was the fifth gold medal by Yulo, counting his earlier victories in the men’s all-around, floor exercise, and rings, on top of silver medal finishes in the men’s team event and parallel bars.

He matched the five-gold haul recorded by a forgotten sports hero, Rolando Albuera, who achieved the feat in the Jakarta 1979 SEA Games where the Philippines collected a total of 24 gold medals and finished fourth overall.

Overall, artistic gymnastics contributed 7 gold medals, 4 silvers and one bronze to the Philippine drive here, the best finish by Pinoy gymnasts in memory.

The other two gold medals were contributed by Fil-Am Aleah Finnegan in the women’s team and vault while adding a silver medal in the balance beam, losing to Malaysia’s Rachel Yeoh Li Wen (12.567-12.467).

Aside from Yulo’s last day golden double, also contributing to the country’s cause was the dancesport pair of Jean Mischa Aranar and Ana Nualla, who completed a golden treble in tango, Viennese waltz, and all final dance standard at the Long Bien Gymnasium.

Mark Jayson Gayon and Mary Joy Renigen contributed the fourth gold for the day, ruling the slow foxtrot, raising dancesport’s contribution to five, counting another gold last Sunday.

Bowler Merwin Tan ruled the men’s singles and ended an 11-year golden drought by the keglers; 110-meter hurdler Clinton Kingston Bautista kept his crown as the athletics team raised its haul to three golds; while Jocel Lyn Ninoble triumphed in women’s poomsae of taekwondo.

Swimmer Chloe Isleta also joined the gold medal parade, ruling the women’s 200-m backstroke.

Vietnam all but wrapped up the overall title won by the Philippines in 2019 but Pinoy athletes, whose stint here is backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, stayed in contention for second overall with a total harvest of 30-34-43 to Thailand’s 34-35-50. The host team zoomed away from the field with an 83-50-55 harvest.

“If it’s up to me I wanted to win all the medals in all the events,” said Yulo, who ended up sharing the horizontal gold with Ding as decided by the organizing committee.

“I thought I lost the gold there,” said Yulo, who was informed of the interesting decision by Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion.

“There were two golds (in that event). The difficulty of Caloy’s performance was much higher, and the landing (of the Vietnamese) was not perfect. We should have scored higher,” said Carrion.

Yulo also won the silver in parallel bars with a score of 14.900, losing the gold to Ding who scored 15.133.

Tan, a 22-year-old left-hander, came from behind to rule the men’s singles event at the Royal City Hanoi Bowling Lanes, rolling a six-bagger in the sixth and last frame to beat Yannaphon Larpapharat of Thailand and Ryan Leonard Lalisang of Indonesia.

Tan finished with a total score of 1292, his bid immensely helped by a 294 in the sixth frame after scoring 234 in the fifth frame that bumped him up to No. 3 overall. Larpapharat and Lalisang were relegated to silver and bronze, respectively, with scores of 1286 and 1221.

Elsewhere in the games, Gilas Pilipinas escaped with a thrilling 76-73 win over perennial rival Thailand at the start of regular men’s basketball at the Thanh Tri Gymnasium.

The Thais made a game of it throughout, trailing by just six at the half 36-42. Nakorn Jaisanuk missed what could have been a game-tying three-pointer in the Thais’ last possession.

The Gilas women had an easier time, handily beating Indonesia 93-77.

Billiards great Efren “Bata” Reyes, still a big hit with Vietnamese fans, advanced to the semifinals of the men’s one-cushion carom singles, beating Suriya Suwannasingh of Thailand 65-58.

Bautista, the only Filipino to ever win the 110-meter hurdles in the SEA Games, is now a proud owner of a second straight gold in the event, following a record-smashing 13.78-second run that broke his own record of 13.97 set during the 2019 Philippine SEA Games.

“Hindi ko expected ito, kasi sila (Thai and Singaporean) ang may leading time bago itong SEA Games,” said Bautista, referring to his rivals for the gold.

Bautista’s feat was the third gold for the athletics contingent in the biennial meet, to go with Ernest John Obiena’s record-smashing performance in pole vault and William Morrison’s shotput triumph.

Pole vaulter Natalie Uy, complaining of numbness in both legs, failed to defend her crown though, fouling on three tries, allowing Malaysian Nor Sarah Adi Binti to unseat the Fil-American from her throne.

“Hindi niya raw maramdaman ang legs niya, maaring pagod sa mahabang byahe,” said pole vault coach Emerson Obiena of Uy, who is based in Kettering, Ohio.

HANOI. – Reigning world champion Carlos Yulo scored two more stirring triumphs Sunday, leading an eight-gold medal haul as the Philippines jostled with Thailand for second overall in the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games here.

Returning to the Quan Ngua Sports Palace where he was crowned the all-around champion last Friday, Yulo, 22, topped the floor exercise, the event where he emerged as world champion in 2019, and followed up his electrifying performance by scoring an impressive victory in the rings.

Gymnastics proved to be a gold mine as Fil-American Aleah Finnegan added the women’s vault gold to Team Philippines’ harvest, scoring her second victory after leading the women’s squad to the team title last Saturday, on top of a silver in the women’s all-around.

Also scoring crucial gold medal wins were Kim Mangrobang who added the women’s duathlon title to her victory in the triathlon last Saturday; wushu practitioners Agatha Wong and Arnel Mandal; Fil-Am William Morrison in shot put; and the dancesport tandem of Stephanie Sabalo de Leon and Michael Angelo Marquez in the Latin dance.

The eight-gold haul, which matched the team’s output last Saturday, jacked up the country’s total to 20, just one behind Thailand.

Host Vietnam moved out of reach with a haul of 64-42-41, with Thailand having 21-22-41, the Philippines 20-25-36, Indonesia 17-26-16, and Malaysia completing the top five with 16-11-29.

“I’m very happy, I didn’t expect to win. But I’m proud of my performance,” said Yulo, who scored 15.200 in the floor exercise and 14.400 in the rings.

He returns to action Monday, competing in the vault, where he is the current world champion; high bar and parallel bar.

Finnegan, a 19-year-old Missouri native who was a member of the US national team that emerged victorious in the Pan American Games in 2019, scored 13.133 in the vault, foiling the golden bid of hometown bet of Nguyen Thi Quynh Nhu who settled for the silver with 13.033.

She vies in the floor exercise and balance beam on Monday in the last day of artistic gymnastics action, which has so far propped up the Philippine campaign with five gold and two silver medals.

Less than 24 hours after winning her third straight SEA Games triathlon crown, Mangrobang, 30, became the first Pinoy athlete here to capture back-to-back gold medals, ruling the women’s duathlon at the Tuan Chau Peninsula in 2:13.12.

Wong, who lost her stranglehold in wushu’s taijiquan event last Saturday, bounced back with a big victory in the taijijian event, scoring 9.71 points to frustrate two Vietnamese entries at the Cau Giay Gymnasium.

Later in the day, Arnel Mandal made it a double celebration for the Philippines, winning the wushu team’s second gold by beating Laksmana Pandu Pratama of Indonesia in the finals of the men’s 56kg sanda 2-0 to join Wong, a 19-year-old beauty whose smile can melt hearts, on the podium.

Morrison, 25, back to defend the title he won in 2019 in the Philippines, heaved the heavy metal ball to 18.14 meters, way off his former winning throw of 18.38, but way ahead of the Thai second placer who had a throw of 17.32m and the Malaysian bronze winner who had 17.20m.

While the athletics contingent celebrated the country’s second gold at the My Dinh National Stadium, which came a day after world-class Ernest John Obiena topped the pole vault with a new SEA Games mark of 5.46 meters, there was concern all around as Philippine record holder John Albert Mantua, the country’s second entry in shot put, injured his right leg after his fifth throw.

Mantua was brought out of the field on a stretcher and was brought to a hospital with a suspected severe leg sprain.

The victory of De Leon and Marquez in the Latin dance led a one gold, three silver and two bronze production by the country’s dancesport bets.

“I prepared very well in two events, that’s why I’m really happy with the result. I focused on my recovery and my conditioning coach, Annie Brown, did a beautiful job,” said Mangrobang, who trained extensively with the national team in Portugal.

With his mother Marlene watching from the sidelines, Morrison set the pace as early as his second heave of 17.84 meters. For good measure, he slowly improved his throwsto 17.97 and then at 18.14 to completely obliterate the field, which included eventual runner-up Jakkapat Noisri of Thailand (17.32) Thailand and third placer Malaysia’s Muhammad Ziyad Bin Zolkefli (17.20).

The athletics team also came up with a silver, courtesy of Janry Ubas who leapt 7.73 meters in the men’s long jump.