PALEMBANG – After a promising start in rowing, the Philippines found gold hard to come by Wednesday in the 26th Southeast Asian Games.
Veteran rower Nestor Cordova celebrated his first SEAG gold with a commanding victory in the men’s singles sculls
event at the Cipule Regatta Course in East Karawang, West Java.
The 34-year-old veteran from Murcia, Negros Occidental clocked 7:18.810 to beat Chaicha Thakum of Thailand (7:21.660) and Aung Ko Min of Myanmar (7:25.320) and clinch the country’s 15th gold medal.
Cordova, the 5-foot-11 petty officer third class of the Navy, earned his first SEAG gold medal after bagging silver with Alvin Amposta in the doubles sculls event during the 1997 edition.
He was chosen by Lithuanian coach Rolandas Kaszlauskas over Benjie Tolentino who won this event three consecutive times since 2003. The celebration was short-lived, however, after Filipinos fell short elsewhere.
Over in Jakarta, Frederick Ong, the men’s singles champion, teamed up with Frederick Ong for the silver in men’s doubles. For the second straight day, women bowlers were shut out of the medal picture.
The other silver medalists were chess grandmaster John Paul Gomez in the blindfold competition, Oliver Barbosa and Catherine Perena in the mixed pair standard event, archers Earl Benjamin Yap and Jennifer Dy Chan in the individual compound events, runner Eric Panique in men’s marathon, billiards star Francisco dela Cruz in the 1-cushion carom, freestyle wrestler Roque Mana-ay.
Winning the bronzes were GM Darwin Laylo in the blindfold event, Eduardo Buenavista in men’s marathon, the women’s sabre team in fencing and Efren “Bata” Reyes in the 1-cushion carom.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., who made the rounds Wednesday, noted that the Philippines was not able to send a full complement because it is strapped with cash.
“Unfortunately for us, we have limited resources and there are also sports here that we do not play,” Cojuangco said. “We are very much in the fight in the second group of three and we are looking forward to golden performances from our athletes in the coming days, particularly in combat sports and ballgames.”
There was hope in billiards following victories by 8-ball singles champion Iris Ranola and defending titlist Rubilen Amit in the women’s 9-ball final.
And the Philippines remained undefeated in men’s and women’s basketball.
In boxing, Alice Kate Aparri pummeled Mieovad Hangfa of Laos to reach the semifinals of the women’s light flyweight division, but flyweight Analisa Cruz bowed out following a loss to Sopida Satumrum of Thailand.
In golf, Rupert Zaragosa kept Philippine hopes alive after carving out a gutsy one-over par 73 to keep his share of the lead in the men’s individual event at the Jagorawi Country Club in Jakarta.
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