Crown in the bag

Casugay’s heroics highlighted Team Philippines’ dominance in this biennial meet.

Twin hits Sisters Bien and Bambi Zoleta were overcame with emotion after picking up soft tennis’ second gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games to push the haul above 100 golds. BOB DUNGO JR. @tribunephl_bob

CAPAS CITY — The overall crown is considered in the bag for Team Philippines as the remaining Filipino athletes competing put the icing on the cake in what turned out to be country’s most productive day in the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Mirroring their exploits in 2005, also the last time the Philippines hosted the biennial competition, the Philippine athletes were relentless in giving honor and pride as they annexed 21 more golds in Day 8 of the 11-nation conclave.

And Roger Casugay’s gold-medal performance yesterday in surfing’s longboard men’s open at San Juan, La Union stood out not just because he came from behind to beat compatriot Jay-R Esquival, but because of the journey he went through to put his sport and the country in the spotlight.

The 25-year old Casugay sacrificed his chances in the third qualifying round last Friday when he opted to save the life of his Indonesian rival Arip Nurhidayat, who was hit by big waves and lost balance on his surfboard.

Casugay’s heroics highlighted Team Philippines’ dominance in this biennial meet where the country now collected 105 golds, 81 silvers and 88 bronze medals to pull away in the medal tally.

“We got this, we are overall champions,” Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) chairman Steve Hontiveros said. “Credit to the athletes who gave their best not only on the competition day on months of training.”

Taekwondo once again did not disappoint, contributing three more golds courtesy of Sam Morrison (men’s welterweight), Dave Cea (men’s lightweight) and Pauline Lopez (-57kg) while Natalie Uy and Sarah Dequinan added two more golds for athletics.

Uy set a new mark in the women’s pole vault with a distance of 4.25 meters, erasing the 4.21 mark of Sukanya Chomchuendee of Thailand in 2013 edition in Myanmar.

“My goal is to win gold and get the SEA Games record. Of course, I want to go higher but I’m satisfied,” said Uy, who tried to clear the 4.35 meters thrice but failed.

Dequinan was a surprise gold contributor for Philippines as she topped the women’s heptathlon with 5,101 points, edging the entries from Malaysia and Thailand.

Podium finish James Deiparine gives his best effort in the preliminary heat of the men’s 50-meter breaststroke in the ongoing Southeast Asian Games. He eventually won silver in the finals. ROMAN PROSPERO @tribunephl_RRP

The women’s softball team nailed its 10th straight SEA Games gold after blasting Indonesia, 8-0, in the finals, while the men’s baseball squad posted a similar win over Thailand, 15-2, here at The Villages. Unfortunately, the Blu Boys failed to make it 3-0 as it bowed to Singapore, 1-6.

Sisters Bien Zoleta-Manalac and Bambi Zoleta (soft tennis doubles), Melcah Jen Caballero (lightweight single sculls), Nielbie Blancada (surfing shortboard), Go Lois Kaye and Bianca Pagdanganan (team golf), Christian Means (skateboard park), Susan Larrson (wakeskate) and Pauline Lopez (taekwondo -57kg) once again displayed Pinay power to take the gold in their respective events.

It was the second gold for Pagdanganan, who previously ruled the individual stroke play, and Bien Zoleta, who also won the single’s event.

Ariel Lee Lampacan (45kg) and Philip Delarmino (57kg) delivered the gold in men’s muay thai, Jhondi Wallace swept the individual wakeskate after ruling the men’s division, while Jericho Jojit Francisco also won the men’s park event of skateboarding held in Tagaytay City.

Jaime de Lange copped the gold medal in the men’s downhill event at Maragondon, Cavite.

Indonesia is running second with 65-61-77 (gold-silver-bronze) followed by Vietnam (60-58-74), Thailand (55-72-73), Singapore (43-33-50), Malaysia (40-37-50), Myanmar (3-16-37), Cambodia (2-4-21), Brunei (1-5-6) and Laos (0-5-17).

Fil-Am swimmer James Deiparine failed to scoop his second gold at the pool after settling for silver in the 50-meter backstroke with the time of 28.32 seconds. Singapore’s Lionel Khoo took the gold with 28.15 while Nathaniel Gagarin got the bronze with 28.52.