MANILA, 10 October 2003 — The Manila Southeast Asian Games in 2005 will mark a new order for the SEA Games Federation as talks among 11 participating countries point to coming up with a standard set of events never before practiced in the Games’ 22 editions, including the scheduled Vietnam event on Dec. 5-13.
Philippine Olympic Committee President Celso Dayrit said the SEAG Federation would be coming up with a decision anytime soon as Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines have agreed to the move, which is seen to take away the undue advantage from the host country.
In the past, host countries were given the right to select events and used this to their advantage.
Dayrit said Vietnam, which is hosting this year’s edition, would be the last country to use the old rule, giving the Vietnamese advantage in terms of events to be played in December.
“The SEA Games federation has been lobbying for new rules to be applied for future competitions. We’d like to come up with the standard rules. For example, for a sport like, say volleyball, to be considered a regular sport in the SEA Games, it requires at least four votes and should have four countries taking part,” Dayrit said.
The new rule would also eliminate the old practice of having only two countries taking part in an event, giving them an advantage in the medal count.
Dayrit stressed the SEAG Federation’s desire to standardize the rules would eliminate the huge advantage held by host countries in future competitions.
Filipino Boxers
Shine in Vietnam
The RP Team Revicon won three gold medals and a silver at the close of the Pre-SEA Games Boxing Championships at the Phan Dinh Phung Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
Pinweight Juanito Magliquian of the Philippine Navy defeated Kaew Pongprayoon of Thailand, 12-8. Also winning the gold were bantam Joan Tipon who overshadowed Chinese Olympian Deng Xue Long, 14-10, and Maximo Tabangcora III of the Philippine Army who stopped Pham Ngoc Hue of Vietnam inside three rounds.
Flyweight Glenn Gonzales, in his first international tournament, settled for the silver medal after a controversial 26-25 loss to Vietnam’s Nguyen Kien Cuong. Gonzales was the aggressor and knocked down the Vietnamese with a shaking left straight to the chin. Just trying to stay up on his feet, the Vietnamese did a lot of clinching in the final round and wrestled the Filipino to the canvas three times, but wasn’t even warned.
Magliquian survived a head-to-head, toe-to-toe battle against the same Thai who defeated him in the quarterfinals of the 2001 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games. But after their third battle on the ring, Magliquian now enjoys the edge, 2-1. The protEgE of Talisay, Negros Occidental Mayor Anthony Lizares then declared his readiness for the Vietnam SEA Games this December.
Lightfly Godfrey Castro, also of the Philippine Army, settled for the bronze after a painful loss to Vietnam’s Le Van Tri in the semis while lightwelter Mark Jason Melligen, another rookie, failed to win any medal but easily gained the nod of the RP coaches, ex-Navyman Vicente Arsenal and Armyman Elmer Pamisa, after a well-fought but losing battle against Sydney Olympics veteran Pongsak Hriathuan of Thailand in the elims, 6-7.
Negros Oriental Bags
Football Title
Negros Oriental defeated Butuan 9-4 to make it two in a row in the Adidas national under-19 football championship at the La Paz field in Sta Barbara, Iloilo. Jemuel Pontillas scored four goals to fuel the runaway win by the favored Negrenses.
John Philip Ragay supported Pontillas with three markers, while Jonas Lipana and Richard Labi had one each. Jeremiah Clemente led Butuan with two goals.
In the other games in the tourney organized by the Philippine Football Association, hosted by Iloilo Football Association and sponsored by Adidas, Cagayan de Oro ripped Legazpi-Albay, 7-2; Iligan toppled Rizal, 6-2; and Negros Occidental routed Cotabato City, 10-1.
Floriano Pasilan, Jalor Soriano and Ronald Labrador starred for Negros Occidental by scoring two goals each. The other Negros Occidental scorers were Jade Paghubasan, Albert Caluyo, Jehram Calvo and Francis Lia.
Joe Villareal took scoring honors for Iligan with four goals while Abelino Cameros and Francis Alder Huiso sizzled for Cagayan de Oro with three and two goals, respectively.
Giudicelli Cops Asian
Karting Crown
Matteo Guidicelli of Cebu-CRG started from the back of the grid but easily took the lead right on the first lap en route to victory in the Junior Intercon-tinental-A division of the 2003 Casino Filipino Shell Asian Karting Open Championship at the Carmona Circuit in Cavite.
The 13-year-old Guidicelli, winner of the Alpin Cup in Italy in June, finished the 20-lap race in 26:05.758, followed closely by Michelle Bumgarner of M&M Racing and Christian Barrero of Edgesports for a podium sweep for the Philippines. But other local bets fell short in their bids. Cebu-CRG’s Paco Rodriguez finished second in the Cadet 85 class behind Malaysia’s Calvin Wongweng-man and Dado Pe?a of Birel-A3 also settled for second place behind Zahir Ali of Indonesia in the Formula 100 Open division.
Arya Setyaki made it two titles for Indonesia when he won the Rotax Max seniors race, edging local bet Mike Tuason. Tuason took the lead on the first lap and hung on for 14 laps before Setyaki made a daring pass on the final lap to win in 21:15.352, just 0.078 second ahead of the Filipino. Another local bet, Mike Sy, finished third.
La Salle Swimmer Surpasses
National Record
La Salle’s Benjamin Uy surpassed a national record while University of Santo Tomas’ Lea Colin Langit and Ateneo’s Raem Puno gave more meaning to the word potential as they ruled the swimming competitions of the 66th UAAP season. The 5-foot-9 Uy won six gold medals, including a national record-surpassing 26.08 seconds in the men’s 50-meter butterfly, and added a bronze to make it seven-of-seven in terms of medals won in the tournament staged recently at the Rizal Memorial Pool.
Uy, 18, a pre-Medical School student, surpassed the national 50-m fly record of 26.24 seconds set by Ronald Giriba in November 2002 and ran away with the Most Valuable Player honors in the men’s division.
Jorge Dy swam a calculated race and scooped top rookie honors in the men’s class for La Salle, which swept the individual awards in the seniors’ category of the tournament where a total 25 meet records were broken.
University of the Philippines won the men’s overall crown with 324 points on 12 gold medals, as many silvers and four bronze medals, while last year’s champion La Salle, with all its six golds coming from Uy, settling for second with 255 points and UST finishing third with 188 points.
La Salle retained the women’s crown with 352 points, an achievement powered by 2002 Athlete of the Year and repeat MVP Michelle Nisce and season top rookie Camille Eser. UST ranked second with 149 points and UP was third with 131.
GTK Named AAA Chef de Mission
to Afro-Asian Games
Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association president Go Teng Kok has been named chief of mission of the Asian Athletics Association for the first ever Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad, India, this month.
The decision was spurred by Go’s successful staging of the recent Asian championships, according to AAA secretary general Maurice Nicholas.
“It’s an honor for me and for our country to be named chief of mission,” said Go. “This only shows that Asian athletics have already recognized the country’s contribution to the sport.”
The Afro-Asian Games will be held Oct. 24 to Nov. 1 coinciding with the joint meeting of the councils of the African Athletic Confederation and the AAA.
