PHNOM PENH. – Showing its vastly-improved depth, the national men’s gymnastics squad led by Carlos Yulo ended its campaign by winning three more gold medals Tuesday, leading a six-gold haul by the Philippines in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.
Inspired by earlier victories by two of his lesser-known teammates — John Ivan Cruz and Miguel Besana — Yulo dominated the parallel bars with 14.850 points to become the country’s first double gold medalist here, counting his runaway mint in the men’s individual all-around battle last Monday.
Drawing experience from his stint in the FIG World Cup Series, Besana ruled the men’s vault with a score of 14.250 points, while Cruz, Yulo’s second cousin born in Leveriza, just behind the Rizal Memorial Coliseum like the gymnastics ace, was superb in the floor exercise with 13.850 points.
“When Ivan (Cruz) and Miguel (Besana) won gold medals, I really tried hard to win a gold so we can take three,” said Yulo, who settled for a silver medal in the rings where Vietnam’s Phuong Thanh Dinh reigned supreme.
Yulo got back at Dinh in the parallel bars after the Vietnamese scored 14.400 points for silver while Malaysia’s Ng Chun Chen posted 13.100 to secure the bronze.
“I still feel blessed and happy for my teammates because of the medals that we’ve won’’ said Yulo, 23, a former two-time world champion.
Due to restrictions set by Cambodian organizers, the 4-foot-11 dynamo wasn’t able to duplicate his feat in Hanoi last year where he won five gold and two silver medals, making him the most bemedaled Filipino athlete.
The gymnastics team ended its campaign with four gold and two silver medals, the other silver coming from the men’s team event last Monday.
Delivering the other three gold medals were long jumper Janry Ubas, who finally realized his dream to become a SEA Games champion, ruling his pet event with a jump of 7.85; swimmer Teia Salvino, who broke the games and Philippine records in topping the 100m backstroke; and the soft tennis team that beat Indonesia 5-4, 2, 5-0 in their duel for the crown.
With the six-gold haul, the Filipino contingent, backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, raised the country’s harvest to 25 on top of 35 silver and 38 bronze medals, good for fourth overall as of 8 p.m. Tuesday.
First-time host Cambodia continued to show the way in the medal tally with a 37-36-35 harvest, with last year’s overall champion, Vietnam, hot on its heels with a harvest of 34-31-44. Thailand was running third with a 33-26-39 haul.
The golden jump was Ubas’ first win in the regional games since he first competed for the country in the 2015 SEA Games.
Over at the Chroy Changvar Center Hall, Irish Magno and Riza Pasuit whipped their semifinals opponents and assured themselves of silver medals in boxing action.
Magno, 31, a Tokyo Olympian, returned to the championship round of the women’s flyweight class since settling for a silver medal in Hanoi last May by scoring a 5-0 win over Indonesian Novita Sinadia. She will fight in the finals on Saturday.
Pasuit, 30, defeated Singaporean Nur Sabrina Binte Mohd Faizal via a 3-2 split decision in the lightweight class to barge into the gold medal round, where she will face Vietnamese Thi Linh Ha.
The World Cup-bound Filipinas scored a 2-1 victory over defending champion Vietnam but the heroics of Sarina Bolden and Halli Long weren’t good enough to push the team to the semifinals.
Myanmar repulsed Malaysia via a massive 5-1 rout at the Old Stadium in the other side of the city and finished tied with the Philippines at 2-0-1 but joined Vietnam in the semis with a better goal difference. The champs took the top berth with a 2-0-1 slate.
“We tried to win the game. But it wasn’t enough,” said Filipinas coach Allen Stajcic.
Gilas Pilipinas opened its bid for redemption with a lopsided 94-49 win over Malaysia at the Morodok Techo Elephant Hall 2, a victory that boosted the team’s fighting spirit ahead of its match on Thursday against a Cambodian side teeming with naturalized players.
After outscoring Malaysia 33-12 in the first quarter, Gilas never looked back and cruised to the 45-point win.
Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser led the way with 15 points, Justin Brownlee chipped in 11 in limited action, while Michael Phillips and his fellow collegiate players got a lot of exposure as Gilas ended the match with a 45-point margin.
