PHNOM PENH—So who says Joseph Arcilla is old?
Arcilla summoned all remaining strength he had in his 37-year-old legs and arms to rout Muhammad Anugerah of Indonesia, 4-1, and secure Philippines’ third gold medal for the virtual overall championship in 32nd Southeast Asian Games’ soft tennis competition on Wednesday at the National Olympic Stadium.
Arcilla was in his elements all day long as Team Philippines—backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee—teetered in fourth and fifth places in the medals race where Vietnam and Thailand started to take over.
He whipped hometown bet Yi Keaverak, 4-2 (7-4), at noon in Group A preliminaries and followed it up with a 4-1 rout of of Laos’ Lekki Vongphakdy, before surviving his longest match in the tournament, a close 8-6 victory over Thailand’s Kawin Yannarit en route to the gold-medal match against the Indonesian.
“That match against the Thai wore me down,” said Arcilla, younger brother of the Johnny Arcilla who remains as the country’s No. 1 tennis player at age 43. “That’s where I got the cramps.”
“What kept me going was our psychologist’s advice to always think positive,” he said.
The win allowed Arcilla to retain the men’s singles title and the Philippines to rule the soft tennis competition as the Filipinos surpassed their 3-0-1 gold-silver-bronze haul in the 2019 Philippines SEA Games, with their 3-1-1 harvest here.
Cambodians finished second with a 2-2-4 tally, followed by Indonesia at 2-2-1.
Arcilla also led the Philippines to the men’s team bronze, with PSC commissioners Fritz Gaston and Wawit Torres cheering them on.
Bambi Zoleta fell to Indonesian Dwi Pitri in the women’s singles, 4-3 (7-4), to settle for the silver.
Zoleta was part of the PH women’s team that grabbed a gold on Tuesday, with Christy Sañosa, Fatima Ayesha Amirul, Noelle Conchita Mañalac and Virvienica Isearis Bejosano, and doubles’ champion doubles champion Bien Zoleta-Manalac and Princess Catindig.
With the gold medal machines of Vietnam and Thailand going full throttle to wrest the top two spots in the medal tally board five days after the games officially started, the Philippines slipped to fifth overall from fourth, raising concerns if Filipino athletes could muster enough strength to duplicate the country’s 52-gold haul last year in Vietnam that was good for fourth in the medal tally.
As of 8:30 p.m., Vietnam showed the way with a harvest of 42-41-52, with Thailand close behind (41-31-50), followed by host Cambodia (40-39-45) and Indonesia (30-28-54).
In contrast, the Philippines only had 26 gold medals to show, along with 40 silver and 49 bronze medals.
A day after finally becoming a SEA Games champion in long jump, Janry Ubas settled for second in the decathlon, one of four won so far by Filipino athletes, while John Cabang won a bronze in the 100m hurdles.
The swimmers were limited to one medal, a bronze, courtesy of Jarond Lang Hatch in the men’s 50m butterfly.
Gilas Pilipinas opened its bid for a third straight women’s basketball crown, whipping Cambodia 114-54 at the Morodok Techo Elephant Hall 2.
But the Gilas men will be severely tested Thursday when the squad battles the naturalized-heavy Cambodian side, with the winner likely to gain the inside track in the battle for the gold.
Raising hopes of a Pinoy fightback were the boxers, with seven of them advancing to the finals.