SEAG: PH finishes 7th with 29 golds

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines wrapped up its campaign in the 27th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with a total of 29 golds, 34 silvers, and 38 bronze medals for a seventh place finish–its worst since it began participating in the games in 1977.

The country was beat by Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the top 6, with Thailand winning by a landslide 107 golds and a total of 282 medals.

Laos followed the Philippines with a far 13 golds and a tally of 79 medals. 

In the months leading up to the SEA Games, it has been dreaded that the Philippines is about to experience a horrible finish in the biennial multi-sport meet as the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) sent its smallest delegation of 210 athletes. 

The national teams for dragon boat, football and volleyball were also not given the green light to compete in this year’s edition of the games.

The country scored most of its medals in taekwondo, athletics and boxing with a total of 14, 13, and 10 medals, respectively. 

As expected, Sinag Pilipinas, the country’s delegation for basketball, swept all their games in dominating fashion to clinch the gold.

An unfortunate setback, however, happened when Filipino swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi, who had already won the gold in women’s 100 freestyle, had to re-swim for the medal after officials upheld a Thai protest. In the re-swim, Alkhaldi finished at third.

But cue artist Rubilen Amit, who has been on a roll since November, gave the Philippines its 26th gold on the 10th day of the 11-day tournament by blowing off her Indonesian opponent Angeline Magdalena in the 10 ball finals.

The last time the Philippines won the SEA Games title was in 2005 with 113 gold medals when it hosted the meet. – Rappler.com