By Roy Luarca

SEA GAMES MEDAL TALLY

Country G S B Total

Vietnam 14 10 10 34
Thailand 13 22 16 51
Singapore 13 6 12 31
Indonesia 11 7 14 32
Malaysia 8 8 18 34
Philippines 7 10 7 24
Laos 4 3 11 18
Myanmar 2 4 7 13
Cambodia 1 3 4 8
Brunei 0 0 3 3
Timor Leste 0 0 1 1

VIENTIANE, LAOS - Pool ace Miguel Molina became the country's first double gold winner while taekwondo jin Tshomlee Go and karateka Marna Pabillore also emerged triumphant Friday to spark the Philippine campaign in the 25th Southeast Asian Games here.

Benefiting from a new training regimen recommended by his Japanese coach, Molina topped the 200-meter individual medley and stayed on track of duplicating his four-gold haul in the 2007 Thailand SEA Games, where he won the Most Outstanding Male Athlete award.

The 25-year-old Fil-American, who was tasked to do more running to strengthen his upper body, clocked 2 minutes and 03.68 seconds in besting his Thai rival and replicating his victory in the 400m IM on Thursday.

Go, a two-time Olympian and lone Filipino taekwondo champion during the 2007 Games, pounded Vietnam's Le Huynh Chau with precision in the featherweight division finals.

Pabillore, silver medalist in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, bested Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, 7-4, for the 55 kg kumite title.

The match was tied at 4 until Pabillore, who also won a SEA Games gold in 2005, scored on a sidekick in the last 30 seconds.

According to the comely 28-year-old, she benefited from a tip by taekwondo association vice president Sung Chon Hung on how to beat her longtime rival.

The 28-year-old Go, who reached the quarterfinals of the World Championships in Denmark in October, thwarted Malaysia's Mohd Afifuddin Bin Omar Sidek in the semifinals.

'From the start, he was very dominant and as the match progressed he appeared to be the clear winner,' said coach Rocky Samson.

Pinweight Bill Vicera, whose division was reinstated only late Thursday, ousted Malaysia's M. Fuad and featherweight Charly Suarez stopped Manuel Batisia of Timor Leste at the start of the boxing competitions.

But bantamweight Joan Tipon, a 2006 Asian Games champion, found Thai Chatchai Buddee a tough nut to crack and lost, 9-4.

Team Philippines also came up with three silver medals for the day through karatekas Lutche Metante in the 68 kg-and-above kumite and Rolando Lagman Jr. in the 75 kg and below kumite and jin Eunie Alora.

Tentative in her attacks, Kathleen Eunice Alora was soundly beaten by Thailand's Sarita Phongsri, 12-1, for the women's bantamweight crown.

Another jin, Jeffrey Figueroa, settled for the bronze in the men's bantam division after a 2-1 loss to Mery Wandra of Indonesia, 1-2, for a bronze.
Karateka Noel Espinosa also took a bronze in the men's individual kata.

Metante ended up with a second straight silver after losing to Jamaludin Jamalliah of Malaysia.

Michael Dumayag, on the other hand, bowed to Duangvilai SengPeng of Laos in the repechage of the 84 kg bracket and was booted out of medal play.

A victim of spotty judging, Philippine diving queen Sheila Mae Perez, a five-gold winner in the SEA Games, settled for the silver (286 points) in her favorite 3m springboard event won by Vietnam's Thanh Tra Hoang (290).

With Thursday night's silver from the men's 4x200 freestyle relay behind Singapore, the Philippines dropped to sixth overall behind Malaysia with seven gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals.

As of 7:30 p.m. (8:30 in Manila), Vietnam leads the medal race with a 14-10-10 tally, followed by Thailand (13-22-16), Singapore (13-6-12), Indonesia (11-7-14) and Malaysia (8-8-18).

Zaidi Laruan of muay kept RP's gold hope alive in the lightweight class after whipping Vietnam's Ly Hoang Tan in the semifinal.

Maricel Subang, however, failed to advance, losing to Nguyen Tuyet Dung of Vietnam in their light flyweight semifinal round to settle for the bronze.

Also in position to capture medals were the snooker doubles team of Roberto Gomez Jr. and Carlo Biado. The Filipinos nipped the Lao tandem of Khamsai and Deathavong, 3-2, in the quarterfinals even as Reynaldo Grandea made easy work of Myanmar's Aung San, 1-0, in the preliminaries of cushion single carom.

Filipino male netters entered the finals after edging Indonesia 2-1 in the semifinal.

Shooting produced the worst results for RP as Shanin Gonzales (368) wound up 11th in a field of 21 in the 10m air pistol while Ruth Ricardo (363) occupied 15th. Gonzales, Ricardo and Michaella Padilla were sixth out of seven in the team event.

Carolino Gonzales scored 559 among men, good for 10th spot in a roster of 14.