Hangzhou— After two weeks of battle, the Philippines finished with four golds, two silvers and 12 bronze medals, good for 17th overall in the 19th Asian Games here topped for the 11th time by China.
Gilas Pilipinas reclaimed the basketball throne in Asia for the first time in 61 years, while Ernest John Obiena solidified his status as Asia’s best and world’s no. 2 pole vaulter in a record smashing Asian Games’ performance to lead the Philippines’ campaign in the games.
Sharing the spotlight with these two golden performers were jiu-jitsu campaigners Margarita Ochoa (48kgs) and Annie Ramirez (57kgs), who delivered scintillating feats as the Philippines matched its four-gold haul during the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.
“It’s still a very very good finish, even better than our previous one,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino.
“We have four golds. Basketball for the first time in 61 years, an Asian Games gold medal and new games’ record from Obiena, and two from jiu-jitsu replacing the two from women’s golf.
We finished 17th overall, that’s another accomplishment,” added Tolentino of the Philippine contingent which improved its 2018 placing of 19th overall five years ago by two notches.
The Philippines was the fourth best Southeast Asian country behind Thailand (no. 8, 12-14-32), Indonesia (13th, 7-11-18) and Malaysia (14th, 6-8-18), but better than Singapore (20th, 3-6-7) and Vietnam (21st 3-5-19).
The silver medals came from Sanda fighter Arnel Mandal in the men’s 56kg category, and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial, who despite his loss in the 80kg finals to China’s Tanglatihan Tuohetaerbieke still clinched a seat in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Adding to the Philippine cause were bronze medalists Patrick Coo (BMX men’s race),
Jenna Kaila Napolis (-52Kg jiu-jitsu), Sakura Alforte (Women’s Individual Kata), sepak taktaw team (Men’s Quadrant and Men’s Regu), Patrick King Perez (Men’s Individual Poomsae), tennis player Alex Eala (Women’s Singles and Mixed Doubles with Francis Alcantara), weightlifter Elreen Ann Ando (Women’s 64Kg), and wushu’s Gideon Fred Padua (Men’s 60Kg), Clemente Tabugara Jr. (Men’s 65Kg) and Jones Llabres Inso (Men’s Taijiquan & Taijijian All-Round).
China was the runaway overall champ with 201 golds, 111 silvers and 71 bronze medals, followed by Japan (52-67-69) and Korea (42-59-89).
