Deiparine ends pool gold drought

This is the ultimate goal, competing at home and giving my best of bringing home the gold.

CAPAS CITY — Fil-Am swimmer James Deiparine made history in the pool, the obstacle team race debuted in style, while the Filipino shooters were on target in Day 4 of the competition of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here.

The 26-year old Deiparine ended the country’s 10-year gold-medal drought in the competition with a record performance in the 100-meter breaststroke at the New Clark City Aquatics Center.

Remedy Rule and SEA Games veteran Jasmine Alkhaldi contributed a silver and bronze medal, respectively, for the Philippine swimming team.

“I’m speechless right now,” said Deiparine, who clocked in one minute and 1.46 seconds, eclipsing the previous mark of 1:01.60 of Nguyen Huu of Vietnam in the 2009 edition in Laos. It was also the new Philippine record.

“This is the ultimate goal, competing at home and giving my best of bringing home the gold,” he added.

Rule also had a record-breaking performance in the 200-meter butterfly as she clocked in 2:10.99, but the Fil-Am swimmer lost by a hairline to Singapore’s Jin Wen Quah, who had 2:10.97 to take the gold.

Alkhaldi, competing in her sixth SEA Games, settled for the bronze in the 100-meter freestyle won by Singapore’s Ting Wen Quah.

Team Philippines remained on top of the medal tally with 56 golds, 41 silvers and 22 bronze medals.

Vietnam was at second with 27-31-33, followed by Malaysia (21-12-21), Indonesia (17-27-29), Singapore (17-12-20), Thailand (11-15-22), Myanmar (1-6-20), Brunei (1-5-5), Cambodia (1-3-17) and Laos (0-0-6).

The day started right for the host nation as the Philippine obstacle course race (OCR) team swept all four gold medals at stake in the event, which made its debut in the biennial meet, at the Filinvest City in Alabang.

Kevin Pascua and Rochelle Suarez took the gold in the men’s and women’s individual race categories, respectively, while two of the country’s relay teams also topped the 400-meter Team Assist and 400-meter Team Relay.

Monito Divina, Kyle Antolin, Kaizen de la Cerna and Deanne Moncada composed the Team Assists, while Jeff Reginio, Nathaniel Sanchez, Klymille Rodriguez and Dian and Buhler made up the Team Relay.

“We really prepared well for these medals and we’re proud of the results,” Suarez said.

Kristel Macrohon gave weightlifting its second gold after Olympian Hidilyn Diaz after ruling the women’s 71-kg category with a total lift of 216 kilograms, beating Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Van (214) and Indonesia’s Tsabitha Ramanadi (203), who settled for silver and bronze, respectively.

Shooting also contributed two golds in the haul, courtesy of Marlly Martir in the women’s WA PPC event, and Martir anchored the women’s trio event also composed of Elvie Baldovino and Franchette Quiroz.

The waikru pair of Joemar Gallaza and Jearome Calica registered 9.59 points to take the gold in Muay Thai, edging their rivals from Malaysia (9.21) and Indonesia (8.84).

Determination shows in the face of gymnast Carlos Yulo during the Vault finals of the gymnastics competition where he won silver. YUMMIE DINGDING @tribunephl_yumi

Tokyo Olympics-bound Carlos Yulo added three more silvers to his haul after finishing second in the vault, parallel and horizontal bars events. The 19-year old already had two golds and a silver in the first two days of the gymnastics competition at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Also delivering silvers for the Philippine team were Mark Rodelas (100-m men’s obstacle course), Milky May Tejeros (100-m women’s obstacle course) and men’s underwater hockey 4×4 team.

The Philippine women’s softball team and the men’s baseball squad reached the semifinals after thrashing their respective opponents.

The men’s volleyball team also reached the medal round after trashing Vietnam, 25-20, 25-21, 25-21, to reach the semis yesterday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

The Blu Girls walloped Thailand, 11-0, while the Blu Boys massacred Singapore, 17-0, in just four innings via Mercy rule, yesterday at The Villages in Clark.