By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE Philippines dropped the curtains on the 30th Southeast Asian Games on Wednesday, a competition that the host country dominated right from the get-go. And how!
On the strength of 149 gold, 117 silver and 121 bronze medals, for a total of 387, the Philippines returned to the top as the overall champion of the biennial regional sporting meet after 14 years.
It was also the best showing for the country in the SEA Games, topping the 112 gold medals it won in the 2005 competition, which the Philippines also hosted.
Team Philippines made its intention to win the overall championship clear right on opening day of the competition on Dec. 1, winning 22 golds to begin its campaign and never looking back from there.
Triathletes John Chicano and Kim Mangrobang, wushu exponent Agatha Wong, gymnast Carlos Yulo and the dancesport and arnis teams set the gold medal pace for the hosts which would translate to 11 days of continuous streaming of top hardware for the Filipinos.
On the second day, the endurance sports and arnis picked up from they left off on Day One, topping most their events to raise the country’s total haul. They would get some help from the 3×3 basketball teams.
The next four days would see some slowing-down in gold medals but still enough to keep a considerable distance from the chasing pack.
Day Seven saw Team Philippines flex its muscles anew, with gold medals coming from different directions, including skateboarding, paddle sports, taekwondo, karate, golf and athletics.
With the overall championship already in sight, the hosts did not relent in its push in the next two days, continuing to pile up on the gold medals.
During that stretch, combat sports, athletics, esports, archery and windsurfing anchored the country’s push.
On the penultimate day of the Games, with the top spot already in the bag, men’s and women’s basketball, jiu-jitsu, athletics, billiards, soft tennis, kickboxing, esports and shooting put the finishing touches to the Philippines’ solid SEA Games campaign.
In the end, arnis emerged as the sport that handed the Philippines the most gold medal of 14, to go along with four silver and two bronze medals.
Athletics came in second with 11 golds, followed by dancesport (10), taekwondo (eight) and seven each from boxing and wushu.
Obstacle course racing and skateboarding won six gold apiece, with jiu-jitsu earning five.
Other multiple gold winners were basketball, billiards, cycling, esports, gymnastics, kickboxing, muay thai, rowing, sailing, soft tennis, triathlon, judo, shooting, fencing, karate, sambo, modern pentathlon, surfing, sepak takraw, waterskiing and wakeboarding, weightlifting, wrestling, and windsurfing.
Winning at least one were swimming, archery, baseball, canoeing, duathlon, kurash, lawn bowls, pencak silat, rugby, softball, squash and tennis.
“This is a result of all the sacrifice and hard work of everyone who pushed for chances at victory,” said Philippine Sports Commission chairman and SEA Games chef de mission William Ramirez of his assessment of Team Philippines.
“This victory is very sweet given the many difficulties we had to face. This win proves that we can achieve a lot when we come together united as one team. I am so proud of our athletes. All of them deserve our respect and love,” Mr. Ramirez added.
