CLARK, Philippines – The Philippines almost ended the day with barely any medal until Olympic hopefuls Margielyn Didal and Kiyomi Watanabe anchored the country’s late golden run in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games on Thursday, December 5.

It was a win-win situation in Philippine skateboarding as Pinay bets Didal and Christiana Means went head-to-head in an all-Filipina Game of S.K.A.T.E. finals.

However, it was the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist who prevailed.

Watanabe reigned supreme in the judo tournament’s women’s -63kg event as she clinched her fourth straight SEA Games gold.

Filipino-Japanese judoka Shugen Nakano opened the team’s golden haul with a top finish in the men’s -66kg event.

Jylyn Nicanore scored a breakthrough fencing gold for the Philippines in the women’s individual sabre.

Mark Striegl, who rose to prominence as a mixed martial artist in URCC and ONE Championship, suited up for the Philippines in the Russian contact sport sambo and captured the gold medal in the 74kg category.

Filipina cyclist Jermyn Prado also nabbed a gold in the cycling individual time trial event after clocking 44 minutes and 44.742 seconds to edge the Singaporean biker Yiwei Luo, who finished 2nd with a time of 44:48.518. – With a report from Leigh Nald Cabildo/Rappler.com