By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

CYCLING, skateboarding, judo and fencing added gold to the total medal haul of the Philippines in the 30th Southeast Asian Games on Day Five of competition on Thursday.

Cyclist Jermyn Prado delivered the first gold for the day for the host after she ruled the women’s individual time trial event in Tagaytay.

Ms. Prado, a native of Quezon Province, completed the 23.1-kilometer course in 44 minutes, 44.742 seconds.

Finishing second and getting silver was Yiwei Luo of Singapore (44:48:518) and getting bronze was Phetdarin Somrat of Thailand (44:58:152).

“I gave my all. It was too hard, but our sacrifices paid off. I’m happy,” said Ms. Prado after her win.

The gold from Ms. Prado was the third for the country’s cycling team after those from John Derrick Farr and Lea Belgira from the men’s and women’s downhill events on Monday.

Skateboarding had a golden double with Daniel Ledermann and Margielyn Didal winning the men’s and women’s game of SKATE competitions.

Ms. Didal, an Asian Games gold medallist, bested compatriot Christiana Nicole Means in the finals.

In judo, Kiyomi Watanabe and Shugen Pablo Nakano bagged gold in the women’s -63 kg event and men’s -66 kg, respectively.

Fencing also produced gold as Jylyn Nicanor won the women’s individual sabre while Mark Streigl struck gold in men’s 74-kg combat sambo.

Silver medals for the Philippines, meanwhile, came from shooting care of Ditto Nestor Dinopol (benchrest air rifle heavy varmint) and modern pentathlon from Samuel German.

Duathlon, for its part, churned out a bronze in mixed relay so did judokas Nakano Keisi and Khrizzie Pabulayan.

BREAKTHROUGH FOR SWIMMING
Meanwhile in New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, Filipino-American swimmer James Deiparine put an end to the decade-old gold-medal drought of the country after topping the men’s 100-meter breaststroke on Wednesday.

Mr. Deiparine clocked 1:01.46 to frustrate Vietnamese Thanh Bao Pham of Vietnam, who took the silver in 1:01.92. Malaysia’s Lionel Khoo Chien won the bronze in 1:01.98. Mr. Deiparine’s time is a new Philippine and Southeast Asian Games record.

His gold medal was the first for the Philippines since 2009 when Miguel Molina, Ryan Arabejo and Daniel Coakley bagged golds for the country in the Games held in Laos.

“This win means so much to me and for my whole family who came here to watch me, and also the crowd they gave me energy to finish,” said Mr. Deiparine after his win.

“I just won the 50-m breaststroke but my goal is to get as many golds as I can for the Philippines,” he added.

In boxing, four Philippine boxing team members advanced to the semifinals after they scored smashing victories on Wednesday at the PICC Forum in Pasay City.

Former world champion Josie Gabuco, Aira Villegas, Irish Magno, and Carlo Paalam won their respective quarterfinal matches at the start of the boxing competitions in the biennial meet.

Mr. Paalam and Misses Villegas and Magno won their bouts via shutouts, with only the 32-year-old Gabuco, winner of a gold medal in the 2012 AIBA World Championship, receiving stiff resistance from Thai opponent Raksat Chuthamat in the women’s light-flyweight division.

Ms. Gabuco pulled off a 4-1 victory over Ms. Chuthamat, a former bronze medal winner in the world championship.

In esports, the Philippines’ Team Sibol got off to a rousing start Thursday in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports category at the FilOil Flying V Center in San Juan City.

Composed of homegrown professional gamers, Team Sibol blanked Laos in two games and forced a draw with Indonesia to earn three points in the inaugural staging of esports in the biennial event.

The nationals needed less than 10 minutes to get the job done against the hapless Laotians, who had no response to the aggression attack of the Filipinos.

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