THE Philippine 50-gold haul at the just concluded 33rd Southeast Asian Games featured the sustained dominance of a slew of athletes in their respective sports.
Wushu artist Agatha Wong came through with her sixth gold at the biennial meet, topping the women’s taijijian+taijiquan event.
Wong thus ruled the combined event for the second straight time with her first four golds coming from taijijian and taijiquan as separate events.
The 27-year-old ruled taijiquan in 2017 and 2019, taijijian in 2019, and taijijian in 2021.
In the men’s pole vault, Ernest John ‘EJ’ Obiena completed a 4-peat with a new meet record of 5.70m clearance.
Obiena topped the previous record of 5.65m clearance that he himself set at the 2023 edition in Cambodia, surpassing 5.70m in just one attempt.
Home bet Patsapong Amsam-ang matched Obiena’s clearance but needed his third and final attempt to do so, resulting in a countback win by the Filipino.
In weightlifting, Elreen Ando hoisted 102kg in snatch and 127 in clean and jerk for a total of 229 in the women’s 63kg class and her second SEA Games gold medal.
The two-time Olympian ruled the 59kg class in Cambodia two years ago.
In team sports, the Blu Girls remained perfect and captured their 11th straight title in as many editions in women’s softball.
They defeated Singapore, 4-1, in the final to continue their reign, while their male counterparts reclaimed the throne.
The Blu Boys scored a payback win against Singapore which beat them at the 2019 edition in Clark.
Topping the Singaporeans in the final, 3-0, the Filipinos claimed their ninth gold in 11 editions of the sport in the regional showcase.
In the bigger diamond, the Philippine men’s baseball team claimed its third straight title.
Taking down host country Thailand in the final, 5-3, the Filipino batters seized their fourth crown in the sports’ five editions in the meet.
Honorable mentions were the Gilas Pilipinas women and men’s teams which swept the 5-on-5 events.
In the women’s side, Gilas edged out home team Thailand in the final, 73-70, to reclaim the crown and win its third title in the last four editions of their division.
In the men’s side, Gilas also subdued Thailand in their gold medal match, 70-64, to get its second straight title and won the Philippines a record 20th gold medal in the sport which was played 23 times starting 1977.