Team Philippines slips to sixth in medal tally after lean day

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, May 11------ 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.

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.

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. 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.

Source: spin.ph