Achievements, Triumphs, and Moments in Cambodia: PH in SEA Games 2023

The 32nd staging of the biennial Southeast Asian Games came to an end last May 17, with the Philippines finishing fifth. With high expectations on them, given their astounding performance last Hanoi SEA Games, the battle-scorned Filipino athletes answered the call to honor the motherland.

Facing ups and downs in their respective competitions, the strong-willed Filipino athletes fought until success is earned. With that, remembering the feat they achieved is only one of the many things we can do to honor them.

After more than two weeks of non-stop sports action, these are the achievements, triumphs, and moments we must celebrate as one with our sporting heroes.

The Philippines placed fifth in the final medal tally of the SEA Games 2023 with 260 medals from 58 golds, 85 silvers, and 117 bronzes.

The Philippines' 58-gold collection is the country's biggest gold haul in a SEA Games abroad since Indonesia 1987 when the nationals claimed 59 golds.

Filipino athletes are overall champions in the following five sports:

• Arnis ( 6 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze)
• Obstacle course racing (4 gold, 2 silver, 0 bronze)
• Triathlon/duathlon/aquathlon (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
• Soft tennis (3 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
• Basketball (1 gold, 3 silver, 0 bronze)

Excluding non-Olympic sports, the 840-strong delegation backed by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) still took the fifth spot with 21 golds, 35 silvers, and 32 bronzes.

Karate, wrestling, swimming, and taekwondo improved the most for the Philippines in the SEA Games 2023. These sports stood among the rest if their current medal production and previous tally in Hanoi are compared.

Filipino karatekas eclipsed their eight-bronze performance last Hanoi 2021 as they garnered two golds, courtesy of Sakura Alforte (women's individual kata) and Jamie Lim (women's 61-kilogram kumite), six silvers, and one bronze for nine medals, good for third place in the overall karate standing.

Like karate, wrestling finished gold-less after settling with seven silvers and five bronzes in Vietnam. In 2023, Alvin Lobreguito (men's freestyle 57 kg), Ronil Tubog (men's freestyle -61 kg), Jason Balabal (men's Greco-Roman -82 kg), and Cristina Vergara (women's freestyle -65 kg) accounted for the four golds. The rest fought to produce the same number of silver and bronze.

Female tankers Xiandi Chua and Teia Salvino swam the two golds the Philippine swimming contingent contributed. Other Filipino swimmers added seven silvers and bronzes each to surpass their seven-medal tally last timeout with 16 medals.

Snagging 15 medals, including six golds, the Filipino jins ensured their presence was felt in Cambodia's capital after a 10-medal performance in Hanoi, Vietnam last year. They improved their standing a notch higher this edition by taking the second spot behind eventual taekwondo champion Thailand.

The Philippine Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (PEKAF) and Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) are the best-performing national sport associations (NSAs) for the Philippines in SEA Games 2023. Both bagged six gold medals. PEKAF was the arnis champion, while PTA finished second overall in taekwondo.

Returning to the SEA Games scene after four years, arnis also became a source of gold for the Pearl of the Orient in Phnom Penh.

Charlotte Ann Tolentino and Jedah Mae Soriano secured the women's bantamweight and lightweight full-contact padded stick golds. Dexter Bolambao and Maria Ella Alcoseba dominated the bantamweight divisions in the full-contact live stick event.

Crismanuel Delfin and Trixie Mary Lofranco reigned in the men's and women's individual anyo non-traditional open weapon categories to close the campaign for Philippine arnisadors.

In taekwondo, the Jocel Ninobla, Nicole Labayne, and Aidaine Laxa trio set the tone for the taekwondo team after ruling the women's recognized poomsae team. Patrick King Perez followed their lead after claiming the men's recognized poomsae individual gold.

Kurt Barbosa completed a treble in the men's 54-kilogram class and Arven Alcantara finally claimed his first gold in the 68kg division after back-to-back silver medal finishes in Kuala Lumpur 2017 and Manila 2019.

Samuel Morrison clinched his fourth straight men's 87kg crown for a memorable SEA Games last dance, while Kirstie Elaine Alora topped the women's middleweight she last won in Naydipaw 2013.

The men's basketball crown is back where it rightfully belongs. A year after losing it, Gilas Pilipinas embarked on a redemption tour to retake the throne, which succeeded.

Unlike before, the SEA Games is no longer the tournament we used to dominate. They entered the competition with their feet grounded. The pressure is on with reclaiming lost glory on the line.

Cambodia dealt the Philippines an early reality check. Defending champion Indonesia almost beat Gilas in the semifinals if not for the herculean effort of Justin Brownlee. Learning from their mistakes, the Filipino cagers connived to outclass the Cambodian quintet in the gold medal match.

Restoring peace, Chot Reyes and his wards can now sleep in peace. It was also calm before the storm for Gilas, which set its sights on the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup in July 2023.

The Philippine obstacle course racing (OCR) representatives simply dominated the sport. The result mirrors how dominant the Philippines was in OCR since its introduction in the biennial meet during the Manila 2019 Games.

In that edition, the nationals went 6-for-6 gold medals. In Phnom Penh 2023, there is no difference as although there were only four OCR events, the Philippines pocketed all the gold plus two silvers.

The nationals ruled the men's and women's team events. Meanwhile, all-Filipino duels broke out in the individual contest in both divisions, which saw world records broken.

Mark Julius Rodelas beat Manila 2019 king and fellow Filipino obstacle course racer Kevin Pascua by clocking 25.19 to break his previous best of 26.42. Her female counterpart Precious Cabuya clocked 32.73 seconds to reset the world record again after recording 33.1278 in the qualifying heats to overcome Kaizen Dela Serna.

Carlos Edriel "Caloy" Yulo bagged five golds in his Hanoi 2021 stint, and host Cambodia might have taken notice. The SEA Games 2023 organizers imposed a restriction that limited Yulo's participation in four events only.

Unfortunately for them, Yulo was born a champion as he is the best performing Filipino athlete in the Phnom Penh biennial meet with a pair of gold and silver.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympian completed a treble in the individual all-around and topped parallel bars. He settled for silver in the team competition and still rings to render the bizarre rule ineffective.

Interestingly, the Leveriza pocket-sized dynamo represented the flag while nursing a sprained ankle. This condition forced him to withdraw from FIG World Cup's fourth and last leg in Cairo, Egypt more than a week before the biennial meet.

A defier of handicapped. Resourceful in limited resources. That is Yulo folks.

Ernest John "EJ" Obiena led the four-gold haul of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) for the country in Phnom Penh 2023 when he broke his own SEA Games record.

Obiena leaped 5.65 meters to beat his SEA Games record of 5.46m he established in Hanoi 2021. This allowed him to win his third pole vault gold medal in the biennial meet since Manila 2019.

Meanwhile, other track athletes didn't let Obiena hog the glory alone, especially Janry Ubas, Eric Cray, and the 4x400m relay team.

Ubas finally got his first-ever men's long jump gold in five SEA Games participation. Cray, meanwhile, zoomed to his sixth straight men's 400m hurdles tilt.

Moreover, the quartet of Clinton Bautista, Michael Del Prado, Joyme Sequita, and Umajesty Williams beat Thailand by a hairline to secure the men's 4x400m relay crown.

Aside from nabbing four golds, the Philippines also hauled 10 silvers and eight bronzes in athletics for a 22-medal finish – four medals shy of their overall tally last year.

Ten of the 12 Filipino boxers sent by the Alliances of Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) won medals for the Philippines in Cambodia 2023 SEA Games. They struck four golds, five silvers, and one bronze.

Proving their world-class talents, Tokyo 2020 Olympics silver medalists Carlo Paalam (men's bantamweight) and Nesthy Petecio (women's featherweight) punched gold medals respectively.

Ian Clark Bautista showed no signs of slowing down and crushed his foes to capture the featherweight division despite moving to a heavier weight class. Paul Bascon, meanwhile, claimed the lightweight class in his SEA Games debut for the Philippines.

Rogen Ladon, Norlan Petecio, John Marvin, Irish Magno, and Riza Pasuit just came short of the gold, while Markus Tongco finished third place in men's heavyweight for the bronze.

In her absence, they were present. The young and talented Filipina weightlifters delivered five of the nine medals netted by the Philippine weightlifting team that fought without the first-ever Filipino Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz.

In succession, Elreen Ando (women's 59 kgs) and Vanessa Sarno (women's 71 kgs) reset the SEA Games record for a pair of gold.

Teenagers Angeline Colonia (women's 45 kgs), Lovely Inan (49 kgs), and Rosalinda Tabique (55 kgs) also eked out silver medals as first-timers in the biennial meet.

With Diaz as an example, this generation of Filipina weightlifting gems will become future world-beaters if nurtured.

Esportsmanship is real. The now three-time champion Sibol Pilipinas and Timor Leste are a testament to that. Opposites in terms of success in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) landscape, the two nations showed that humbleness in both win and defeat exists.

Timor Leste is relatively a new, young country in Mobile Legends. This is why their players found it difficult to converse with others, recalled by caster Hans "Sonah"' Christian Galeria. Fortunately, the Philippines ensured they would not feel left out after their best-of-one match, which went their way. When the chance came, the Filipinos conversed with them.

Then, Timor gave the Philippines scarves called Tai. Sibol ML coach Francis "Ducky" Glindro said in an interview with Spin.ph that the traditionally woven ceremonial cloth is a sign of respect and friendship. Filipinos wore the Timorese gift in their semifinal clash versus Myanmar and gold medal bout against Malaysia.

For Rowgien "Owgwen" Unigo, doing that was to pay tribute to one of the kindest teams they met, with the Filipinos even sharing the stage with the Timorese during the medal ceremony.

In the end, Glindro wished Timor Leste the best as he believed that the more countries recognizing esports, the better for the community. In the end, esports is not only for competition but also for building relationships.

Mother and daughter Cristina and Cathlyn Vergara shared a SEA Games moment to remember. Two days after the annual Mother's Day celebration, Cathlyn, like her mother, became one of the medalists of the Philippines in Phnom Penh after nabbing the women's 59-kilogram bronze. About an hour before her third place finish, Cristina conquered the women's freestyle 65 kgs class.

It was a special moment for Cristina, 44 years old, simply because she saw her daughter step on the podium. The medal's color won't make any difference as what matters is the feeling of seeing your child attain what you have achieved for the flag.

"Special ito kasi dalawa kami ng anak ko na nag-medal," Cristina said as the two trained together for this competition. This meeting of the old and new happened after the 2003 and 2005 SEAG gold medalists replaced injured Levie Espuerta.

Like mother, like daughter. It is a bonding for Cristina and Cathlyn like never before as the SEA Games 2023 is the time they both fought for the nation and also emerged victorious.

For the Philippines, the focus now shifts to the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, from September 23-October 8. After their SEA conquest, the Filipino athletes will barge into a bigger and definitely, stiffer stage.

With China, Japan, South Korea, and other Asian countries blocking the road, the Filipino contingent PSC and POC will send must come prepared to challenge the giants and slay them.