Rubilen Amit, Eric Cray and the pair of Rhichein Yosorez and Islay Erika Bomogao hauled gold medals in their respective events in billiards, athletics and muay for Team Philippines at the 31st Southeast Asian Games on Tuesday, May 17, in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Amit outclassed Jessica Hui Ming Tan of Singapore, 7-2, to keep her women’s 9-ball title and also pave way for a sweep in the 9-ball as Carlo Biado and Johann Chua arranged an all-Filipino finals showdown after toppling their respective Singaporean rivals in the men's side.
Amit raced to a 3-0 lead and held on despite Tan catching up at 6-2, but a dry break from the Singaporean allowed the Filipina sensation to clean the ninth rack en route to the gold medal.
Cray also extended his men’s 400-meter hurdles supremacy by capturing his fifth straight SEAG gold with a time of 50.41 seconds.
Yosorez and Bomogao also reigned supreme in the women’s waikru with 8.68 points, beating rivals from Vietnam (8.56) and Thailand (8.35).
Tokyo Olympian Kurt Barbosa also took the spotlight after defending his -54kg title in the taekwondo kyorugi at the expense of Thailand's Panachai Jaijulla, 16-7,
Over at the My Dinh National Stadium, Robyn Brown ran away with the women’s 400-meter hurdles bronze medal with a time of 56.44 seconds, breaking the 31-year-old record of 57.57sec held by Elma Muros-Posadas at the Singapore Open in 1991. Mark Harry Diones also bagged the men’s triple jump silver with a leap of 15.87m while William Morrison heaved 50.49m to claim the men’s discus throw bronze.
In fencing, the women’s foil team settled for the silver medal after bowing to Singapore, 33-28.
The men’s sepak takraw team also managed a bronze in the men’s regu event after losing its semifinal match against Malaysia.
In swimming, Miranda Renner shattered the national record in women’s 50-meter butterfly after topping the preliminary race.
The Fil-American clocked 27.03 seconds to advance to the final event being held at presstime, eclipsing the national mark of 27.09 made by Jasmine Alkhaldi at the 2019 SEAG in Capas, Tarlac.
Alkhaldi, meanwhile, also advanced to the medal round after finishing fifth in the heat with 27.49sec.
Over in men's basketball, Gilas Pilipinas improved to a 2-0 record after a 100-32 demolition of Cambodia.
In beach volleyball, the men’s team secured a place in the semifinal after beating Cambodia for a 2-0 card in Pool A.
Jude Garcia and Krung Arbasto downed Chuk Sophea and Thy Menghuong, 21-15, 21-16, while Ranran Abdilla and Jaron Requinton clipped Oem Narton and Som Samith, 21-14, 21-14.
They will face Vietnam Wednesday for the top ranking in their group.
Not as fortunate was its women’s indoor volleyball team, which succumbed to Indonesia, 25-23, 21-25, 25-15, 25-20, at the Dai Yen Arena in Quang Ninh.
The Nationals fell to a 1-2 record to slip at fourth, making their last match in the preliminaries against 2019 SEAG silver medalist Vietnam a crucial one.
The sepaktakraw team clinched its second victory at the expense of Myanmar, 2-0, to bolster its medal bid in men’s regu.
They earlier demolished Laos, 2-0.
Junior tennis sensation Alex Eala also started her campaign in the women's singles after trouncing Phonphatehep Philavong of Laos, 6-2, 6-1, to move into the quarterfinals.
The two-time Grand Slam Juniors Doubles champion will next face Singapore's Lynelle En Tong Lim.
As of 6 p.m., the Philippines has amassed 33 golds, 35 silvers and 44 bronze medals for third place, with host Vietnam collecting 91 gold, 57 silver and 58 bronze medals.
Thailand is at second with 36 golds, 38 silvers and 59 bronzes, while Singapore is at fourth with 26-29-31 (gold-silver-bronze).
Indonesia follows suit with 25-36-33, followed by Malaysia (20-24-47), Myanmar (4-6-10), Cambodia (1-4-10), Brunei (1-1-1), Laos (0-1-13) and Timor Leste (0-1-0).