PH Breaches 50-Gold Plateau To Finish 4th In Sea Games

MANILA, Philippines – Gold medals from boxing and basketball sealed the Philippines’ top-four finish in the medal table of the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam on Sunday, May 22.

Gilas Women and boxers Eumir Marcial, Rogen Ladon, and Ian Clark Bautista all delivered as the Philippines finished with 51 gold medals. (UPDATE: PH finishes SEA Games with 52 gold medals as Phillip Delarmino rules following a protest)

 

Except for its overall titles when it hosted the SEA Games in 2005 and 2019, the Philippines broke the 50-gold threshold for the first time since the 1993 edition, when it finished third with 57 golds.

 

Aside from hosting the previous two SEA Games, the Philippines had its best performance since 2003, when it finished fourth in the medal count. (TALLY MEDAL: 31st SEA GAMES)

 

Gilas Women came short of a tournament sweep following a devastating 93-96 loss to Malaysia, but they nevertheless defended their first-ever SEA Games gold medal.

 

With identical 4-1 records in the round-robin women’s basketball tournament, the Philippines edged out Indonesia for gold by the Filipinas’ earlier 93-77 thrashing of the Indonesians.

 

One of the Philippines’ gold mines in the previous SEA Games, the national boxing team produced as expected, with one-third of its nine-man delegation striking gold.

 

Marcial (men’s -75kg) annihilated Timor Leste’s Delio Anzaqeci Mouzinho, Ladon (men’s -52kg) edged Vietnam’s Tran Van Thao, while Bautista (men’s -57kg) thwarted Myanmar’s Naing Latt in their respective finals.

 

Irish Magno (women’s -51kg) snagged silver after losing to Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Tam.

 

It would have been 52 golds for the country if not for Gilas Pilipinas’ shocking 81-85 loss to Indonesia that snapped the Philippines’ decades-long reign in SEA Games Men’s Basketball.

 

Looking for their 14th straight gold medal, the Filipinos were outgunned by a determined Indonesian team led by former Cleveland Cavaliers star Marques Bolden.

 

Indonesia finished with a perfect 6-0 record, while Gilas Pilipinas finished with a 5-1 record to settle for silver for the first time since 1989.

 

More silver medals were gained in esports, with Sibol finishing second in CrossFire and League of Legends.

 

Other silver medalists for the Philippines on the day were Muay Thai fighter Philip Delarmino (men’s 57kg) and shooter Hagen Topacio (men’s trap).

 

Bronze medalists were aerobic gymnast Charmaine Dolar (women’s individual), shooter Carlos Carag (men’s trap), and vovinam athlete Zephania Ngaya (women’s 60kg).

 

The Philippines also won bronzes in fin swimming courtesy of Romina Rafaelle Gavino, Raissa Regatta Eugenie Gavino, Marjorie Denise Manguiat, and Sam Andrei Doragos (women’s relay 4x100m surface) and judo courtesy of Keisei Nakano, John Viron Ferrer, Carl Dave Aseneta, Rena Furukawa, Dylwynn Keith Gimena, and Megumi Kurayoshi (mixed).