By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

HELD a very comfortable lead in the medal standings heading into the penultimate day of the 30th Southeast Asian Games on Tuesday, the Philippines put the finishing touches to its solid campaign by adding more hardware to its total haul.

As of 6 p.m. yesterday, host Philippines has collected 370 medals, broken down to 143 gold, 113 silver and 114 bronze.

Gold medals were added by esports, shooting, soft tennis, athletics, jiu-jitsu and kickboxing.

Caviar “Enderr” Acampado, playing for Team Liyab outside of the national team, beat his Singaporean opponent in the finals to win the first-ever StarCraft II gold medal in the esports event in the 2019 edition of the biennial regional sporting meet.

Enderr defeated Thomas “Blysk” Kopankiewicz, winning, 4-1, in the title match at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan yesterday.

“I’m really happy and at the same time relieved that I didn’t disappoint our countrymen and all of our fans and supporters. My opponents were really tough but fortunately my preparation along with the program we had prior to the SEA Games helped me a lot. This is for all who believed in us,” Enderr said after his historic win.

Enderr was one of several Team Liyab mainstays who made it to the national esports team.

In shooting, the trio of Eric Ang, Carlos Conge Carag and Hagen Alexander Topacio topped the Trap team event.

They scored a total of 338, eight more than the Malaysian team of Bernard Yeoh, Chee Ong and Foo Chen.

Winning the bronze was the team from Thailand with a score of 321.

The men’s soft tennis team ruled its event by defeating Thailand, 2-1, in the finals.

The team was made up of Mark Anthony Alcoseba, Kevin Fraz Mamawal, Joseph Arcilla, Mikoff Manduriao, Noel Damian, Jr. and Dheo Talatayod.

In athletics, Eric Cray defended his title in the 400m men’s hurdles by clocking 50.21 seconds to win the gold. He was followed by Cong Lich Quach of Vietnam (51.60) and by compatriot Francis Medina (51.68).

Silver and bronze medals for the Philippines on Tuesday came from BMX cycling, athletics, sepak takraw, table tennis, billiards and wrestling.

DEBUTING SPORTS DELIVER
In the ongoing Games, debuting sports jiu-jitsu and kickboxing had an auspicious showing.

Jiu-jitsu had five gold medals to go along with two silver and three bronze while kickboxing delivered two gold and two silver medals.

Meggie Ochoa introduced herself to the SEA Games by winning a gold medal in the women’s -45 kg event of jiu-jitsu that got going Monday at the Laus Events Center at the New Clark City.

The 28-year-old Filipina blanked Le Thu Trang Dao of Vietnam in the final, 13-0, to add the gold to her growing collection that also included the same medal she won in the World and Asian championships.

The other Filipinos who delivered gold medals in jiu-jitsu’s maiden stint in the biennial meet were Carlo Peña (men’s -56 kg event), Dean Michael Roxas (men’s 85 kg), Adrian Rodolfo Erwin Guggenheim (men’s -94kg) and Annie Ramirez (women’s -55kg). The last two gold medals were won yesterday.

Jiu-jitsu silver medals came from Marc Alexander Lim (men’s 69kg) and Jenna Kalla Napolis (women’s 49kg) while bronze was handed by Gian Taylor Dee (men’s 62kg), Apryl Jessica Eppinger (women’s -62kg) and Peter Lawrence Meimban (men’s -120kg).

In kickboxing, meanwhile, Jerry Olsim claimed the first gold medal in the sport, and was seconded by Gina Iniong yesterday, while Jomar Balangui and Raquel Daquel earned silver medals in their respective weight divisions.

Benguet’s Olsim was the first to rock the dome, beating Klinming Sarayut of Thailand for the -69kg kick light category.

Ms. Iniong, meanwhile, dominated Thai Apichaya Mingkhwan, 3-0, to claim the women’s -55kg kick light event.

Ms. Dacquel, for her part, lost to Nguyen Thi Hang Nga, 2-1, in the women’s -48kg full contact while Mr. Balangui bowed to Phan Ba Hoi 2-1 in the men’s -54kg low kick.

“We all saw how our kickboxers competed. We are still finding our way in the sport but our athletes still fought and gave their all. Congratulations to the athletes and hopefully we can build on this showing,” said Senator Francis Tolentino, Samahang Kick-boxing ng Pilipinas (SKP) president.

CLOSING CEREMONY
Meanwhile, the 30th SEA Games concludes today with the closing ceremony to be held at the Athletics Stadium in New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.

Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee chairman and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano will lead the ceremony which will start at 6 p.m. and see special awards handed out.

The ceremony will also have the Philippines turning over the hosting duties to Vietnam which will welcome athletes in the region in 2021.

United States hip hop group Black Eyed Peas, who includes Filipino-American Apl d Ap, is one of the artists set to perform.

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