NEWLY-MINTED Vietnam Southeast Asian Games double gold medalists Rubilen Amit and Kim Mangrobang lead a “lean and mean” nine-man squad that will compete in the 11th World Games on July 7 to 17 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Amit, who ruled the women’s 9-ball and 10-ball events in Hanoi, and Mangrobang, who swept the women’s triathlon and duathlon events in Tuan Chau Island in Quang Ninh province, are among the Filipinos who qualified for the prestigious quadrennial meet featuring mostly non-Olympic sports.
Joining them are reigning World Games 9-ball champion Carlo Biado, who bagged a gold and silver in the 10-ball and 9-ball events, respectively, in the Vietnam Games, and triathletes Fernando Caseres, the men’s Vietnam Games triathlon champion, and John Chicano.
Rounding out the compact Philippine team are muay thai world champion Philip Delarmino, the country’s 52nd and last Vietnam gold medalist; muay thai teammate Leanna Bade, back-to-back SEA Games gold medalist Annie Ramirez of jiu-jitsu and karateka Junna Tsukii, a bronze medalist in Vietnam.
Also the defending US Open champion, Biado, who won the men’s 9-ball crown in the 2017 edition in Wroclaw, Poland, will make his return to the World Games while the rest are making their debut in the meet that started in 1981 in Santa Clara, California consisting of 15 inaugural sports and 104 events.
The nine are the most the Philippines will send so far to the Games to be held in the major US steel industry hub, what was known as the hotbed of the American civil rights movement in the sixties.
Outside of Biado, the previous best finish of the country in the sportsfest was a silver medal by bowler Arianne Ceredena in the women’s singles in the 1989 third edition in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Four-time World Cup champion Paeng Nepomuceno won bronze medals in the men’s singles in the 1989 and 1993 World Games in Lahti, Finland while Liza del Rosario also won a bronze medal in the women’s singles in the 2009 edition held in Kaohsiung, China.
Cue ace Dennis Orcollo also won a bronze medal in the men’s 9-ball event in the 2013 World Games in Cali, Colombia.
