MANILA, Philippines — Agatha Wong bagged her second gold medal Tuesday, sparking a last-day golden rush by Filipino wushu bets in the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the World Trade Center.
After Wong’s golden win, Filipino sanda warriors captured five of the six gold medals up for grabs in the afternoon as the Philippines ended the wushu competition with seven gold, two silver and two bronze medals to clinch the overall championship in the discipline.
The last time the Philippines emerged as overall championship in wushu was in the 2005 SEA Games in Manila with 12 gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
Wong topped the taijijian event (straight sword form) by registering 9.65 points after winning the tajiquan (form) category (9.67) last Sunday.
“Today, I was calm, unlike in the first day where there was a lot of pressure. Now I can relax knowing I’ve bagged something for the Philippines,” said Wong, who improved on her silver medal finish in the taijijian event in 2017.
The College of St. Benilde alumna beat Vietnam’s Tran Thi Minh Huyen (9.63 points) and Brunei’s Lachkar Basma (9.62 points), who settled for the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
In the sanda event, Divine Wally blanked Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Chinh in the 48kg women’s finale, Jessie Aligaga won over Permana Ade of Indonesia in the finals of the men’s 48 kg, Arnel Mandal blasted Pratama Laksamana in the 52kg finals, Francisco Solis bashed Widiyanto Yusuf in the 56kg men’s finals and Clemente Tagubara trounced Thai Suksanguan Kittisak in the 65kg men’s finals.
Fred Padua settled for the silver medal, losing to Vietnamese Bui Truong Giang in the men’s 60kg class.
The Philippine wushu squad of Jones Inso, Johnzenth Gajo and Thornton Sayan settled for the bronze in the men’s duilian (duel).
The squad tallied 9.49 points behind Indonesia’s trio of Horatius Harris, Edgar Marvelo and Seraf Siregar (9.54) and Brunei’s duo of Joel Majallah and Muhd Safiee Shayferan Roslan (9.50).
Jones Inso settled for the silver in taijijian last Monday while Daniel Parantac bagged the bronze in taijiquan last Sunday. (LO/IAMIGO/CNS)
