Blistering start

It has been a blistering start for Team Philippines in the 30th Southeast Asian Games with gold medals, and medals in general, steadily flowing from different sources.

As of this writing, in just two days of competition, the host country has collected 38 gold, 20 silver and 13 bronze for a total 71 medals.

The gold haul was 23 more than what second-running Vietnam has, with Malaysia the other country with double-digit numbers for the top hardware with 10.

Arnis has been a rock-solid source of medals for the country with 12 gold medals, and counting we must add, to go along with two silver and two bronze medals.

The sport was absent in the Games for 14 years and it is surely making up very well for it just as it shows that the local federation for the sport has been doing its job of keeping the game of the athletes at a high level.

Dancesport was impressive, too, with its 10 gold and two silver haul, which really went a long way in setting the tone for the great start for the Philippines on Day One on Sunday.

I was not surprised by this though for I always believe that the Filipinos are among the best in dancing in the world, apart from being great as well in singing.

Endurance sports have been a boon in our campaign no doubt.

In the first two days of competition they paced the country’s gold conquests with triathletes John Chicano and Kim Mangrobang giving Team Philippines its first gold medals in the Games on Dec. 1 and duathlete Monica Torres handing the first gold on the second day.

The Philippine triathlon mixed relay team also snatched gold.

Along the way endurance sports also produced two silver medals.

The Subic and Clark clusters of the Games have been good as well for Team Philippines with sepak takraw (2) and pencak silat (1) in Subic and kurash (1) in Pampanga producing golds.

Olympians Hidilyn Diaz (weightlifting) and Caloy Yulo (gymnastics) have flexed their muscles on their way to the top of their respective divisions.

Diaz, a silver medallist in the 2016 Rio Olympics, won her first SEA Games gold medal by winning the women’s 55-kilogram weightlifting division on Monday.

Yulo, Tokyo 2020 Games qualifier, meanwhile, dazzled the hometown fans by bagging the men’s artistic gymnastics individual all-around on Day One.

Wushu’s Agatha Wong, for her part, successfully defended her title in the taolu taijiquan event.

Then there were our 3×3 basketball teams who ruled the competition in the debuting SEA Games sport.

The men, in particular, were solid as they swept their way to the gold. The team was composed of Philippine Basketball Association stars CJ Perez, Mo Tautuaa, Chris Newsome and Jason Perkins. Coach was Ronnie Magsanoc.

The women’s team, coached by Pat Aquino, was made up of Jack Animam, Clare Castro, Afril Bernardino and Janine Pontejos.

Downhill cycling (2) and lawn bowls (1) were also big winners on the second day.

Following the “intramurals” that hounded the Games in the lead-up, it is truly a breath of fresh air to have the focus now channelled to the athletes, the true heroes in this event.

The issues thrown at the hosting of the Games, of course, still need to be looked at but it can wait for now as our athletes do their thing. All the way, Filipino athletes!