CLARK, Pampanga – Swimmer James Deipairine, who ended a decade-old gold medal drought for the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games swimming tournament, and Kevin Pascua of the national obstacle race team made their marks in the country’s staging of the regional biennial meet on Wednesday, December 4. 

Deiparine raced to a time of 1 minute and 1.46 seconds in the 100-meter breaststroke to shatter both his own Philippine record and the meet record held by Vietnam’s Nguyen Huu Viet since 2009. 

Tankers Remedy Rule and Jasmine Alkhaldi also rewrote their own national records in women’s 200m butterfly (2:10.99) and women’s 100m freestyle (55.76), respectively, while securing podium finishes. 

Pascua bannered the Philippine obstacle course race’s sweep by breaking the world record of the new sport with a time of 29.92 seconds. 

Kristel Macrohon proved her worth by ruling the women’s 71kg division Wednesday, giving the Philippines its second gold medal at the end of the weightlifting competitions at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Macrohon, 23, inspired by Olympian Hidilyn Diaz’s golden triumph last Monday, had a total lift of 216kg (93kg in the snatch and 123kg in the clean and jerk) to relegate favorite Thi Van Nguyen of Vietnam to the silver. Nguyen had a total lift of 214kg (92kg in the snatch and 122kg in the clean and jerk).

The Philippine shooting team also scored a double gold in the women’s individual and WA 1500 Precision Pistol Course behind Marly Martir, who was later joined by Elvie Baldivino, and Franchette Quiroz in the team event. 

In Subic, Jaerome Calica and Joemar Gallaza won the Philippines’ first gold in the muay waikru event.

Gymnast Carlos Yulo, on the other hand, closed out his campaign with 3 silver medals in the vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar after opening with back-to-back golds and two silvers.  – Rappler.com