PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Agatha Wong left Manila with a lot of doubts.
Now, she’s going home with her fifth Southeast Asian Games gold medal hanging around her neck.
The lovely 24-year-old wushu artist delivered yet another flawless performance to secure the gold medal in the taijiquan+taijijian event Friday at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center Hall A here.
Despite displaying a deadly brew of beauty, power and athleticism, Wong registered 9.580 points to finish third behind Malaysia’s Sydney Chin (9.640) and Brunei’s Basma Lachkar (9.610) in taijiquan.
But she returned to score 9.683 points in taijijian — an event she has been ruling since the Kuala Lumpur Games in 2017 — to post a commanding total score of 19.263 points.
Chin settled for the silver medal with 19.196 points following a 9.556 performance in the taijijian and Lachkar took the bronze with 19.160 points after a 9.55 output on her second stint on the floor.
Wong said she would have been happy to settle for bronze so winning her fifth gold medal in the biennial meet came as a pleasant surprise.
“When I left the Philippines, everybody was expecting me to win when I couldn’t expect myself to win. It’s hard to manage that mentally,” said Wong, who is juggling two tough roles of being a national athlete and a medicine student at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.
“I was really happy I was able to get third place (in taijiquan).”
Wong added that she is thankful to her school for allowing her to train and compete in her fourth SEA Games stint.
“It’s usually hard to get excused from classes when you’re in college of post-graduate so I’m surprised they were lenient with the reasons since it was to represent the country,” Wong said.
Pinay power was on display as the vaunted women’s poomsae squad of Aidiane Laxa, Jocel Ninobla and Maria Nicole Labayne delivered the country’s second gold medal of the day.
The Filipina quartet scored 108.5 points to capture the gold medal while Malaysia settled for silver with 108 points and Vietnam and Thailand bagged the bronze with an identical 107.5 points.
Moments later, Patrick King Perez chipped in to the country’s golden harvest as he ruled the men’s individual poomsae event.
The Philippines remains at sixth place with 30 golds, 52 silvers and 66 bronzes for a total of 148 medals as of 7 p.m. with a handful more expected from other athletes competing later in the day.
Samantha Catantan, last year’s women’s individual foil champion, had to settle for silver this time after suffering a knee injury that forced her to forfeit the gold to Maxine Wong of Singapore.
Catantan had to be tended by local medical officials after her 16-7 win over Kemmei Cheung of Singapore in the semifinal before the national fencing team decided to throw in the white towel.
Three more bronze medals came from wushu courtesy of Carlos Baylon (men’s sanda 56-kilogram), Russel Diaz (men’s sanda 52-kg), and Jennifer Kilapio (women’s sanda 48-kg).
The country, however, expects a gold rush when nine boxers, led by Olympians Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio, compete in the finals on Saturday and Sunday at the Chroy Changvar Center Hall G.
Ladon, who won gold medals in the 2019 Philippine and 2022 Vietnam Games, starts the country’s bid for a golden rush at 4 p.m. when he fights Tharanat Saengphet of Thailand in the men’s flyweight championship while Irish Magno is up against a familiar foe in Jutamas Jitpong of Thailand in the women’s lightweight finals.
Also fighting Saturday are Ian Clark Bautista, who is also hoping to become a three-time SEA Games medalist, and Riza Pasuit, who battles Vietnamese Thi Linh Ha in the women’s lightweight finals.
“I really have to give my all tomorrow (Saturday) to bring home the gold,” said Bautista, 28, of Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, who is up against Indonesian Asri Udin in the men’s featherweight gold medal round.
Fighting Sunday are Paalam, Nesthy Petecio, Paul Julyfer Bascon, Filipino-British John Marvin, and Petecio’s younger brother, Norlan.
Paalam eyes the gold in the bantamweight class against Aldoms Siguru of Indonesia while Petecio shoots for redemption after a frustrating bronze finish in the last Hanoi games when she squares off with Indonesian Ratna Sari Devi in the women’s featherweight finale.
Bascon takes on Rujakran Juntrong of Thailand in the men’s light welterweight finals while Norlan, 21, takes on another Thai, Bunjong Sinsiri, in the men’s lightweight championship.
Marvin, the 2017 SEA Games gold medalist, faces Weerapon Jongjoho of Thailand in the men’s light heavyweight finals.
