PALEMBANG - The national team in traditional boat racing made an emphatic statement Sunday in ruling the 500m 20-man crew race of the 26th Southeast Asian Games and beating world class opponents at the Cipule Lake in West Java.

Challenged to prove their worth by a raging controversy at home, the Filipino paddlers clocked 1:53.95 despite the heavy and shallow waters of the man-made lake to upend the monstrous crew of Myanmar than won silver with 1:54.12.  Thailand was third (156.21), Cambodia fourth (1:57.27) and the frustrated host, Indonesia was fifth (1:57.64).

Not in any way overshadowed was Alfie Catalan’s gold medal in the individual pursuit event of cycling which is his third gold medal in four staging of the SEAG since 2005 and first of his team in this edition.  Catalan’s 4:53.103 beat the 4:56.103 of local boy Warseso Projo and 5:00.009 of compatriot John Renee Mier, who took bronze.

Completing the afternoon delight for the Philippines is the baseball squad that, heavy rains and all, controlled Indonesia, 2-0 in a close gold-medal match.

A number of semi final round matches in soft tennis-men’s doubles, mixed doubles and women’s doubles—were also called off as the new tennis courts were already flooded.

“Salamat sa Diyos at sa prayers ng ating mga kababayan,” said canoe/kayak federation secretary general Jonne Go, feeling all vindicated after the controversy that ensued in the association’s take-over of dragon boat affairs from the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation.

The PDBF team that represented the country in the 2007 Games in Thailand did not win a gold medal.

“Maraming masasakit na salitang tinanggap ang mga atleta natin noon, sana naman tapos na ngayon,” she added.

In the medal picture of 4 p.m. Sunday (5 p.m. Manila) Indonesia is applying the finishing touches to an eighth overall championship amassing a massive 143-116-107, gold-silver-bronze tally while Thailand recovered second spot on an 88-77-98 card while Vietnam was back in third after six days with 80-79-84.

Malaysia is not keen on looking with 49-44-66 at fourth and Singapore is holding on to fifth like a leech with 39-41-71.

Regretful for not scoring in many fronts considered to be their strength, the Filipinos are at sixth after the three snared on Sunday with 26-45-64 although the official web site maintained by INASOC, or the organizing committee, has yet to correct the inaccurate figures as to gold, silver and bronze medals credited to the Philippines.

It is also presumed that other nations are affected by the inaccurate information, including schedules, medal tally, medal audit and names of competitors, on the web site that up to the late stages of the SEAG remained unadjusted.

Myanmar, the next host of the Games in 2013, was at seventh (10-21-27), Laos 8th (3-11-20), Cambodia ninth (3-11-20) and Timor Leste, which captured its first gold this year on Saturday in Shorinji Kempo took 10th spot (1-1-4), while Brunei was at last place with two silver and seven bronze medals.

Wushu World Championships silver medallist Marianne Mariano was first of six sanda semi finalists to advance with a victory over Su Huilaing Oo of Myanmar although Rhea Mae Rifani was stalled to a bronze finish by Thi Bich Nguyen of Vietnam. 

Others still in the hunt for gold are mixed-martial artists Edward Folayang and Mark Eddiva, Benjie Rivera and reigning world champion Dembert Arcita.

Sunday night, the Filipinos are still in contention for the men’s basketball crown, men’s Masters of bowling where singles champion Frederick Ong and Asian Games champ Biboy Rivera are in the thick of things and in weightlifting featuring Olympian Hidilyn Diaz in the 58 kgs class.

There are also three judokas—Filipino-Japanese Kenji Hayata (90 kgs) and female Kyonomi Watanabe (70 kgs) and defending titlist Ruth Duga Duga (78 kgs)—hunting for gold Sunday night.  Hayata, the number three man in the All-Japan list, and Duga Duga are favoured in their weight class.

On the last day of competitions, the 12 gold medals in paragliding will be awarded although the standings of Filipino competitors do not look very encouraging. 

As such, RP will bank on the sanda finals of wushu, cycling, equestrian, chess, soft tennis and tennis and boxing and chess.