Equestrian gives PH lone gold yesterday in SEAG
Kuala Lumpur — A 46-year-old rider with “rockstar personality” thrilled the Southeast Asian Games equestrian show jump individual competition Monday after capturing the gold medal for Team Philippines in Rawang.
John Colin Syquia, riding for the Philippines for the first time, won via jump-off and shocked the field when he upstaged his Malaysian foes, riding four seconds faster than the second placer to rule the competition.
The horse dealer and professional equestrian rode with his mount Adventure L.
He finished tied with five other riders after two rounds and then in the jump-off clocked 37.63 seconds besting local riders Sharimini Cristina Ratnasingham (41.30) and Dato Seri Mahamad Fathil Qabil Ambak (41.66).
Ratnasingham on board Arcado, and Ambak on 3Q Qaliya, wound up second and third, respectively.
“He is a rock star here. We call him our secret weapon,” said team manager Daniella Virata.
Four-gold Sunday
Meanwhile, Carlo Biado and Chezka Centeno swept billiards’ 9-ball singles finals, taekwondo jin Samuel Morrison prevailed in what could be his farewell Southeast Asian Games fight and Filipino-Japanese teen Mariya Takahashi rocked the judo competition as Team Philippines raised its gold-medal haul to 23,
The 18-year-old Centeno kept her title with a 7-6 decision over two-time world champion Rubilen Amit at KLCC Hall 4.
Biado then plucked the men’s gold—the country’s fourth for the day—over Duong Quoc Hoang of Vietnam, 9-5.
As of 7:30 last night, the Philippines remained mired in sixth place with 23 golds three days left before the Games end.
At nearby Hall 1, Samuel Morrison used his late grandmother as inspiration to score a 28-18 win over Dinggo Ard Prayogo of Indonesia, in the -74 kilogram division final.
That somehow eased the grief of SEA Games rookie Arven Alcantara losing the -68 kg gold.
Alcantara settled for silver as hometown bet Rozaimi bin Rozali was ruled the winner by “punitive declaration” with the scores deadlocked at 17-all.
Takahashi, 16, also stole the thunder from four-time champion Surattana Thongsri of Thailand via ippon in the first 43 seconds of their women’s -70kg event.
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