BANGKOK, Thailand — It’s another golden finish for tanker Kayla Sanchez on a slow Saturday for Team Philippines in the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here.
For the second straight day, Sanchez scooped a mint to add to the Filipino delegation’s gold medal collection after ruling the women’s 100-meter backstroke event of the swimming competition at the Sports Authority Thailand Aquatic Centre.
Sanchez, a two-time Olympic medalist for Canada before representing the Philippines, clocked 1:02.35 to best home bet Mia Millar (1:02.52) and Indonesian Flairence Candrea (1:02.60).
Her victory added to her earlier golden haul in the 100m freestyle last Friday and the 4x100 freestyle relay mint with Heather White, Chloe Isleta and Xiandi Chua last Wednesday.
Sanchez’s top podium finish highlighted the country’s three gold medals on Day 4 of hostilities in the biennial meet.
A male judoka displayed superior strength while a female skateboarder flaunted superb showmanship as the country took just half of the six mints it bagged the day before.
Chino Sy-Tancontian topped Indonesian Gede Ganding Kalbu Soethama in the men’s 100kg final via ippon to sweep the division, 3-0, at the Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi Auditorium.
The 24-year-old judoka said he was confident heading to the final especially having defeated his Indonesian foe at the Gold Coast Oceania Open 2025 in Queensland, Australia.
Sy-Tancontian bagged a silver medal in the said meet.
“I’ve fought him before in the Oceania competition, so coming to the finals I’m confident I’d bring to gold back to the Philippines,” he shared.
Sy-Tancontian stopped Vietnamese Pham The Minh Hieu in the quarterfinals and Myanmar’s Zaw Lin Phyo in the semis.
A versatile combat athlete, Sy-Tancontian raised his personal SEA Games gold haul to two after his 2019 sambo conquest in Manila.
Back at the Sports Authority of Thailand Extreme Sports Park, Mazel Paris Alegado ruled the women’s extreme skateboard (park) competition.
She wowed the judges with her tricks, collecting 79.72 points to best compatriot Elizabeth Amador, who settled for silver with 72.03 points. Local skateboarder Freya Sariya Brown took bronze (64.13).
Team Philippines had 14-22-46 gold-silver-bronze collection in sixth place as of 8 p.m.
Thailand virtually sealed the overall championship with an 86-53-31 tally ahead of second-running Vietnam (28-24-22), Indonesia (26-38-34), Singapore (15-16-24) and Malaysia (15-13-42)even if the 11-day sportsfest has yet to reach the halfway mark.
Meanwhile, judoka John Viron Ferrer settled for a silver following a loss via ippon to Malaysian Majeed Amir Daniel Abdul in the men’s -81kg final.
Taekwondo produced two silvers courtesy of Merica Lillyn Chan and Kenneth Riley Buenavides.
Chan suffered a 0-2 loss to Thailand’s Sasikarn Tongchan in the final of women’s -62 kilograms kyorugi while Buenavides bowed to hometown bet Thanapoom Fuangnoi, 0-2, in the men’s -63 kgs final.
Tokyo Olympics champion Hidilyn Diaz vies for a third SEA Games title Sunday in the weightlifting competitions at the Chonburi Sports School.
She is entered in the women’s 58kg division with the competition starting at 4 p.m. (Manila time). Diaz previously won the SEA Games gold in 2019 in Manila and 2022 in Hanoi.