THAILAND—The practical shooting team, Olympian Elreen Ando and trackster Hussein Loraña, all overlooked and oftentimes unappreciated, stepped into the spotlight and delivered in dazzling fashion as Team Philippines turned in one of its most productive days in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games.
A deluge of 4 golds, a silver and three bronze medals by the marksmen on Monday, capped by a long-awaited weightlifting gold from Ando and a surprise mint from Loraña catapulted the Philippines back into the thick of the fight.
Making its SEA Games debut, practical shooting proved to be an unexpected gold mine for the Philippines, with Rolly Nathaniel Tecson, Edcel John Gino, Genesis Pible and Erin Mattea Micor all standing atop the podium at the THPSA Shooting Range.
Tecson, a reigning world champion, led the charge by ruling the men’s standard individual event, while teenage sensation Micor topped the women’s open individual. Gino and Pible completed the golden sweep by dominating the men’s and women’s production optic categories, respectively, as the Filipinos medaled in all eight events contested.
“From the very first day up until sa last, nakaya natin maging consistent and na-minimize natin ‘yung mga errors kaya sobrang happy,” said Tecson.
“Nakaka-proud kasi ngayon, siguro ma-recognize na kami ng government. Sobrang nakaka-proud lang na makapag-uwi sa Pilipinas ng gold,” he added, savoring a breakthrough moment for a sport long thriving outside the limelight.
The youngest gold medalist of the lot, the 17-year-old Micor, admitted she exceeded even her own expectations.
“I was really surprised noong nanalo ako. Mas nag-expect po ako siguro second or probably third,” she said. “Pero may confidence din po ako na I was going to get first place.”
Pible echoed the team’s collective pride after her triumph.
“Napakalaking karangalan ito para sa amin and siyempre sa buong Pilipinas. Proud na proud kami,” she said.
While the shooters stole headlines, Ando made sure weightlifting finally had its golden moment. Often performing in the shadow of Tokyo Olympics champion Hidilyn Diaz, Ando asserted her own place by claiming the women’s 63kg gold, lifting a total of 229 kilograms at the Chonburi Sports School.
“Nadala siguro sa first attempt, mahirap talaga i-lift ‘yung first attempt na nandoon lahat ‘yung kaba,” said Ando, who steadied herself in time to seal the Philippines’ first weightlifting gold of the Games.
“Pagdating sa clean and jerk, kailangan ko kunin ‘yung gold para may gold naman tayo ngayon,” she added, as teammates — including Diaz — celebrated from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Loraña delivered a golden performance for Team Philippines, crossing the finish line first in the men’s 800m final with a time of 1:48.80.
Loraña is the athletics team’s third gold winner in Bangkok and one of the team’s lesser known athletes. But he kept the tracksters’ momentum going after golden performances from his more popular teammates — decathlete Hokett Delos Santos and record-breaking hurdler John Christopher Cabang Tolentino.
On the hardwood, Gilas Pilipinas continued its winning ways, grinding out a tense 78-67 victory over a pesky Vietnam team to secure a semifinal berth in men’s basketball.
“It was a hard-earned win,” said coach Norman Black, acknowledging both the Filipinos’ resilience and the challenge posed by a much-improved Vietnamese side. “We struggled again defensively, and it is something that we have to fix.”
In tennis, Alexandra Eala kept medal hopes high after overpowering Malaysia’s Shihomi Leong, 6-3, 6-1, to assure herself of at least a bronze medal in women’s singles.
Hours later, Eala and mixed doubles partner Francis Casey Alcantara also assured Team PH of a bronze following a 6-4, 6-3 win over the Singapore pair of Daniel Abadia and Wei Choo.
“Masaya ako sa crowd, madaming nanood. Maraming salamat sa suporta,” Eala said after feeding off the energy of Filipino fans as she advanced to the semifinals.
