By MARK REY MONTEJO
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – While the midday sun is hot and shining brightly, it’s been raining gold for the Philippine Team A after asserting its dominance over local and foreign rivals to claim the overall title in the 11th BIMP-EAGA Friendship Games on Thursday, Dec. 5 here.
After five days of intense action, PH Team A piled 31 gold, 39 silver and 32 bronze medals to win the overall championship in runaway fashion.
La Salle tanker Philip Sahagun made the biggest wave for the hosts with five gold medals after sweeping all his events – boys’ 200 IM, 4×100 freestyle and medley relays, 200m and 100m backstroke.
He likewise spearheaded Team A’s assault that resulted in its second overall crown in the regional meet.
Also starring for the squad were trackster Milchay Moreno and swimmer Lora Micah Amoguis who both had two golds and a silver while jin Jamie Danielle Nirza finished with a gold and a silver.
Malaysia B was a distant second (17-16-17) followed by Indonesia (14-8-5), and country’s team E (13-8-11), which was spearheaded by UP standout and PNG multi-champion Quendy Fernandez, at third and fourth places, respectively.
The 19-year-old Fernandez became the most bemedalled athlete as she took home five golds (girls’ 50m, 100m and 200m back, 4×50 200m medley and freestyle relays) and two silvers (4x100m medley, 4×100 400m free).
Clinching the fifth place is PH’s B (6-6-10), followed by Malaysia A (2-3-2), PH’s D (1-2-10), Brunei Darussalam (1-2-8), and PH’s C (1-2-1).
The closing ceremony is being held at presstime at the Balayong Basketball Covered court with the overall winners expected to be announced as well as the turnover ceremony for the next host.
All participating athletes are taking part in the assembly that will be joined by Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Richard Bachmann, commissioner Walter Torres, BIMP-EAGA and local top officials.
