Team Philippines registered its biggest single-day gold-medal haul thus far in the 26th Southeast Asian Games, bagging six gold medals to hike the country's total to 14 after five days of competition.
Overall, Day 5 produced a 6-5-5 gold-silver-bronze haul, with taekwondo accounting for two golds and one silver to become the biggest gold-medal producer thus far for the embattled Philippine contingent. The jins have so far racked up four golds, three silvers and five bronzes.
Taekwondo's golds came from John Paul Lizardo, who ruled the men's flyweight category, and Kristie Elaine Alora, who topped the women's heavyweight category. Fellow jin Alexander Briones bagged the silver in the men's heavyweight category.
A day after Dennis Orcullo won the men's 8-ball gold, Iris Ranola did the same in women's 8-ball, beating Indonesia' Amanda Rahayu, 5-1, in the finals as billiards hiked its medal contribution to two golds. The bowlers also delivered on the first day of the bowling event, with Frederick Ong and Jeremy Posadas completing a 1-2 finish in men's singles.
Fencing produced one gold courtesy of Walbert Mendoza, who topped the men's sabre individual event, while wrestling chipped in the sixth gold after Jason Balabal won the men's 84kg Greco-Roman category. Robertson Torres settled for the silver, though, in the 120kg division.
Men's team tennis, which was erroneously listed as having lost in the semifinals yesterday, actually made it to the finals, where they lost to Indonesia, 2-1, to claim the silver medal. Mervin Guarte accounted for the day's fifth silver in the men's 800m run.
Pencak silat won three bronzes, while bridge (women's team) and cycling (men's team time trial) bagged a bronze each.
In team sports, the baseball team stayed undefeated, routing Malaysia 10-0, and face Indonesia on Thursday looking for a sweep. The women's softball team moved up to 4-0 by blanking Indonesia, 7-0, and Malaysia, 12-0. But the U-23 Azkals dropped a sorry 2-1 decision to Brunei, and finished last in their group with only three points.
In golf, Rupert Zaragosa was in a three-way tie for the lead after 36 holes after shooting a one-under 71 that gave him a two-day total of 143. In the women's competition, Chihiro Ikeda had an opening-round 72, three strokes behind Koh Sock Hwee of Singapore.
But while this was the most productive day medal-wise, the Philippines hardly made headway in the overall standings. In fact, fourth-running Malaysia increased its lead over the Philippines in the gold medal count, from five at the end of Day 4 to eight at the end of Day 5 as the Malaysians had a solid harvest of 9-9-13, striking heavily in swimming, diving and athletics.
The day's biggest mover, though, was Vietnam with 18 golds, including a staggering nine in gymnastics, as they reduced second-running Thailand's lead to just four golds. The Vietnamese are now at 44-46-52, well within striking distance of Thailand's 48-35-57. Host Indonesia is still miles ahead at 76-60-60, winning 16 golds on Tuesday.
