PHNOM PENH—It took the Philippines a veteran soft netter to avert a gold-medal shutout on Wednesday in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.
Even while suffering from cramps, Joseph Arcilla, 37, delivered a gold medal in men’s soft tennis as he whipped Muhammad Anugerah of Indonesia, 4-1, in the finals.
The golden feat of Arcilla, younger brother of many-time national team netter Johnny, allowed the Philippines to claim the unofficial overall championship soft tennis.
But it was the lone mint for the day by the Filipinos, who slipped to fifth overall in the medal standings after momentarily grabbing fourth spot on Tuesday evening.
As of 8:30 p.m. (Manila time), Vietnam led the way with a harvest of 42-41-52, with Thailand close behind (41-31-50), followed by host Cambodia (40-39-45) and Indonesia (30-28-54).
The Philippines, whose campaign here is backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, only had 26 gold medals to show, 26 short of the 52 it won in Vietnam last year.
In athletics, John Cabang Tolentino bagged a bronze in the 110m hurdles and Natalie Uy contributed her own bronze in pole vault.
Pinoy swimmers were limited to one medal, a bronze, courtesy of Jarond Lang Hatch in the men’s 50m butterfly.
Gilas Pilipinas opened its bid for a third straight women’s basketball crown, whipping Cambodia 114-54 at the Morodok Techo Elephant Hall 2.
But the Gilas men will be severely tested Thursday when the squad battles the naturalized-heavy Cambodian side, with the winner likely to gain the inside track in the battle for the gold.
Raising hopes of a Pinoy fightback were the boxers, with seven of them advancing to the finals.
