PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – The Philippines had its leanest day in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games when it bagged a single gold medal - and paid the price by slipping from fourth to sixth overall on Wednesday.
Joseph Arcilla ruled the men’s singles in soft tennis to save the Philippines from a gold shutout on a day when Singapore rode a wave of victories in swimming to rise to fifth place with 27-23-25 gold-silver-bronze output.
READ: Arcilla caps hat-trick of soft tennis gold medals
With 26 gold to go with 44 silver and 56 bronze medals, the Philippines slipped to sixth place after Day 5 and suddenly cast doubt on its goal to equal, if not surpass, its 52 gold medals in the Hanoi SEA Games last year.
Vietnam occupies the top spot with a 50-50-61 tally followed by host Cambodia, which holds a slight lead for second with 47-41-51. Thailand is in third with 47-36-53 followed by Indonesia with 35-32-56.
Arcilla secured the Philippine soft tennis team's third gold by beating Muhammad Hemat Bhakti Anugerah of Indonesia, 4-2, 1-4, 4-1, 8-6, 5-3, at the Olympic Stadium.
There were near-misses on Wednesday, including Dines Dumaan who lost to Khoirudin Mustakim of Indonesia, 43-25, in the men’s tanding Class A (45kg to 50kg) in pencak silat.
Bronzes in athletics include Natalie Uy (women’s pole vault) and John Cristopher Tolentino (men’s 110m hurdles)
Jarod Hatch set a new Philippine record in winning a bronze medal with a time of 24.89 seconds in the men’s 50m butterfly, while the women’s 4x200m freestyle team of Chole Isleta, Teia Salvino, Jasmine Alkhaldi, and Xiandi Chua also captured a bronze.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
