Two late athletic Golds avert Philippines shutout

By Gerry Carpio (The Philippine Star)

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The Philippines’ Kaitlin de Guzman adds a silver in floor exercise and a bronze in balance beam after a gold feat in uneven bars. JUN MENDOZA

KUALA LUMPUR – Team Philippines lost the momentum of its golden romp the day before and was staring at a gold-less day until athletics’ Trenten Anthony Beram and Aris Toledo delivered late in the night in the 29th Southeast Asian Games here.

Beram erased the specter of fellow Fil-Am Eric Cray’s shattering loss in the 100m dash Tuesday by ruling the 200m in a new Philippine record while Toledo proved to be Games’ ironman by winning the decathlon, giving the Philippines its 10th gold that went with 15 silver and 19 bronze medals to remain at sixth.

Beram clocked 20.84 seconds to beat Thai Jirapong Meenapra (21.22) and Malaysian Thevarr Gunasegaran (21.26).

Khairul Hafiz Jantan, who foiled Cray in the 100m dash, struggled to end up fourth in 21.28 seconds.

Toledo, on the other hand, amassed 7433 points to clinch the decathlon gold. Thai Suttisak Singkon settled for second with 7411 points while Vietnam’s Bui Van Su took the bronze with 6737 points.

Mark Harry Diones also took the silver in triple jump with a 16.63m leap. Malaysian Mohd Hakmi Ismail won the gold in record 16.77m feat.

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Malaysia pulled away with 47-35-29 (gold-silver-bronze) followed by Singapore (26-22-20), Vietnam (26-19-22), Thailand (16-27-33) and Indonesia (15-17-32).

EarIier, in a unusual day after a harvest of five gold medals Tuesday and three in the first three days, Team Philippines was stopped in its tracks by rivals from host Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia which leveled the field and carted away all the 32 gold medals staked until the late hours of the afternoon.

Until Beram and Toledo came through with late gold feats.

Perlas Pilipinas also hacked out a tough 69-67 victory over Thailand to stay in the medal hunt in women’s basketball.

Karatedo John Paul Behar advanced to the finals when the officials upheld a protest which involved a Malaysian karatedo’s entry to the finals on a wrong scoring. Behar advanced but lost in the gold medal round.

Kaitlin Cera Lianne dela Cruz added a silver medal in the floor exercise and a bronze in the balance beam, respectively, while Reyland Capellan took the bronze in the vault at the close of the artistic events in gymnastics yesterday. 

Dela Cruz who became gymnastics’ new sensation with her win in the uneven bars a day earlier, emerged as the best performer in artistic gymnastics in the Philippine team with a gold-silver-bronze medal finish.

The best finish before her was the silver medal of Ava Lorein Verdeflor in the uneven bars in 2015.

Capellan ended his stint in the SEA Games with a 1-3 finish counting his gold in the floor exercise to improve on his 1-0-0 gold-silver-bronze medal performance in 2015.

Last-minute substitute Arniel Ferreira, a former SEAG champion who was pulled out of retirement to sub 2015 gold medal winner Caleb Stuart, a no-show in the national eliminations, took the bronze in the men’s hammer throw.

Develop More Filipino Athletes!

 (The Philippine Star) 

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Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero. Philstar.com/File

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero yesterday asked the Philippine Sports Commission to revisit its grassroots development programs and create opportunities for homegrown athletes to achieve their Olympic dreams.

And with this, Escudero said, the PSC should help minimize the recruitment of Fil-foreign athletes by national sports associations (NSAs) seeking shortcuts to victory in international competitions.

Escudero said many sports associations have relied too much on Fil-foreign athletes, leaving their doors half-closed to homegrown athletes who strive hard to get noticed in PSC-organized Batang Pinoy, the Palarong Pambansa and other regional grassroots competitions.

“It will not be good for our homegrown athletes if these NSAs would continue to rely on the Fil-foreign athletes. This is the NSAs’ shortcut formula to success, tapping trained athletes who are ready to compete,” Escudero said.

Escudero said the PSC has enough years to develop local athletes for the 2019 SEA Games, which the Philippines would host after Brunei announced its withdrawal from the task last year.

“The PSC should pounce on the opportunity from this hosting chore,” Escudero said. “There is the Palarong Pambansa, the Batang Pinoy, and other national games organized by the other NSAs. We can still aspire for the overall SEAG crown with a sound program.”

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Escudero also noted the Philippines’s drive to an Olympic medal should also focus further than next year’s Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.

“If possible, we should prepare our athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics from the Batang Pinoy and Palarong Pambansa programs and we should refrain from relying on the Fil-foreign athletes. I am not against them, but we should create opportunities to the homegrown athletes and prove that our programs are really working,” Escudero said.

No Filipino athlete has won an Olympic medal since boxer Mansueto Velasco took home a silver from the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

The Philippines last won the overall championship when it hosted the Southeast Asian Games in 2005. It was downhill for the Filipino athletes in the regional meet since then.