By Edwin Rollon
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – Filipino athletes continued their dominance with Jamie Danielle Nirza topping the women’s karate even as swimmers Philip Sahagun and Quendy Fernandez copped their mastery in the pool to become the most bemedalled athletes on Wednesday in the 11th BIMP-EAGA (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asian Growth Areas) Friendly Games here.
Representing the country’s Team A, the 18-year-old Nirza showcased her impressive skills to earn 36.5 total points edging Malaysia Team A Anisa Aira Nur (36.2) to claim the gold medal in the advanced women’s kata.
Nur took the silver while Malaysia B’s Ameera Liew and Brunei’s Nasir Abdul got the bronze.
“I’m happy to achieve such a feat, and I worked hard for this one. I’m glad na I was able to perform the way I wanted, and I’m happy for my teammates we’re able to perform [well],” said the first-year nursing student from Jose Maria College.
Aside from the gold, Nirza and her teammates Yesha Lee Ho and Al Rhina Kawano grabbed the women’s team kata silver after tallying 34.6 points.
In the men’s individual, Arvin Santillana settled for silver with 36 points.
Over at the Ramon V. Mitra Sports Complex swimming pool, Sahagun conquered the boys’ 200-meter backstroke (2:14.38) while joining PH Team A in winning the 4x100m medley relay to raise his total gold medals to five.
“Goal ko talaga na mapasama sa national team and represent our country sa international competitions. Hopefully, makapag-try outs ako next year,” said Sahagun.
Likewise, Fernandez, added two more medals – a gold in the girls 200m back and a silver in the 4x100m medley relay – to cop her campaign with five gold and two silver medals.
Earlier in Archery, PH Team E’s Nathaniel Carlos topped the men’s individual recurve after beating his Malaysian rivals with six points while PH Team B’s Yvonne Forcado snaed the crown in the women’s class.
In athletics, Milchay Moreno led PH Team A in winning the 4x400m women’s relay in 4:09.51 against Malaysia (4:19.73) and PH Team D (4:34.16). Desiree Alaba of PH-A won the women’s long jump at 5.39 meters.
In badminton, PH Team A captured the women’s singles gold courtesy of Klea Montanez while Malcolm Mag-Aso and Andre Alexis Macalalag took home the mixed doubles diadem. PH Team B’s Regina Bayudang and Khrystn Valdez captured the women’s doubles.
