Trinidad into wakeboard finals

CHENGDU, China — Raph Trinidad served as the light in gloomy day for most of the Filipino athletes in the 2025 World Games, crashing into the finals of the men’s cable wakeboard event after an inspired routine that sparked his hope for a medal finish at the Sancha Lake Taohuadao Arena on Saturday.

Trinidad, after placing third among all participants in the heats, barely made it to the finals after listing 70.80 points in the semifinals which was far from the 80.20 he earned in Friday’s qualification.

Loic Deschaux of France (89.80), and Germany’s Max Milde (86.60) and Florian Weiherer (77.20) had the best scores of the day, and will all join the Filipino bet, Isaac Claudio of USA (75.00) and Oliver Orban of Hungary (73.00) in the finals Sunday at 10.45 a.m.

“We will have a better idea come the finals,” said Trinidad’s coach Carlo dela Torre.

“He is up against heavy hitters from Germany and France. We’ll do our best,” he added.

Trinidad’s campaign is supported by the Philippine Olympic Committee headed by President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and the Philippines Sports Commission.

Falling short was Eric Ordonez of men’s wake surf who placed fifth in the semis heat with a score of 40.00. Only the top 3 finishers in each of the two groups gained their tickets to the medal round.

Over at the Xinglong Lake Hubin Arena, the dragon boat team was wiped out in four events, from the 8-seater 200-meter and 500-meter divisions to the 10-seater 200-meter and 500-meter categories in their respective qualification and semifinal races

The fifth squad in 8-seater 2000 meters, which competed straight in the finals, ran out of everything and landed ninth out of the 10 boats.

The paddlers have their chance to redeem themselves in the 10-seater, 2000-meter finals at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Earlier in the morning at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Gymnasium, wushu bet Jones Llabres Inso finished seventh overall after totalling 19.112 in combined taijiquan and taijijian.

The men’s floorball team also suffered a devastating loss against Sweden, 11-1, with Lucas Enaje putting the team on the scoreboard with a penalty goal 3 minutes into the first period.