BY KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
EIGHTEEN of the 24 Filipino gold medalists in the previous Southeast Asian Games will be returning to defend their titles in this year’s 30th edition of the biennial meet.
Gilas Pilipinas spearheads the cast as it seeks to cement its dynasty in men’s basketball where the country has been dominating since the 1991 Manila edition.
The team is a good mix of young and veteran PBA players with multi-titled Ginebra coach Tim Cone calling the shots this time.
Among those returning cagers are Kiefer Ravena, Troy Rosario and Christian Standhardinger.
Other members of the so-called ‘magnificent 12’ are Roger Pogoy, Japeth Aguilar, Marcio Lassiter, June Mar Fajardo, Chris Ross, LA Tenorio, Matthew Wright, Stanley Pringle and Vic Manuel.
Eric Cray, Mary Joy Tabal and Aries Toledo are also returning to spearhead the athletics team after delivering golds in men’s 400-meter hurdles, women’s marathon and men’s decathlon in the 2017 edition held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Boxing, the traditional gold mine for the PH team, will have reigning champions Eumir Felix Marcial (men’s 75kgs) and John Marvin (men’s 81kgs), as well as billiards’ Carlo Biado (men’s 9-ball singles) and Chezka Centeno (women’s 9-ball singles).
Samuel Morrison will also defend his title in the men’s kyorugi -74kgs in taekwondo along with the men’s poomsae team of Rodolfo Reyes Jr., Dustin Jacob Mella and Raphael Enrico Mella.
Other returning gold medalists are Kim Mangrobang (women’s triathlon), gymnast Reyland Capellan, Agatha Wong of wushu, the men’s ice hockey team, the men’s fours event in lawn bowls, judokas Kiyomi Watanabe and Mariya Takahashi, and pencak silat’s Dines Dumaan.
As host country, the PH delegation hopes to surpass its 24 gold, 33 silver and 64 bronze medal haul in 2017 with the presence of 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers EJ Obiena (pole vault) and gymnast Carlos Yulo, Olympian Hidilyn Diaz of weightlifting, reigning Asian Games champion Margie Didal of skateboarding and world champion boxer Nesthy Petecio, among others.
This year’s edition has 530 events in 56 sports compared to the previous edition’s 404 events in 38 sports.
