A dominant performance by Carlo Paalam led to one of the Philippines' nine golds on Sunday in Cambodia. POC/PSC Media.
Tokyo Olympics silver medalists Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio highlighted the Philippines' nine-gold haul on Sunday, as the country surged past Singapore in the medal table of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games.
Paalam and Petecio dominated in their respective gold medal matches, while Paul Bascon added another boxing gold. The Philippines added two more golds from arnis, courtesy of Charllote Ann Tolentino and Jedah-Mae Soriano, as well as one from judo thanks to Rena Furukawa.
A record-setting performance by Elreen Ando in weightlifting got Team Philippines started, and Jason Balabal later added a golf from wrestling. National esports team Sibol dominated the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang competitions to complete a three-peat in the event.
As of 11:00 p.m., the Philippines is now in fifth place in the league standings with 46 gold medals, 72 silvers, and 86 bronzes. They surged past Singapore, which has a 42-36-55 haul as of Sunday night.
Vietnam continues to pace the 32nd SEA Games with a whopping 107 golds, along with 90 silvers and 94 bronzes. Thailand is second with a 90-67-88 haul, followed by Indonesia (67-61-80) and host nation Cambodia (65-61-103).
Paalam, who won a silver while fighting in the flyweight class in Tokyo, dominated Aldoms Suguro of Indonesia to rule the men's bantamweight class while Petecio overwhelmed her Indonesian rival in the women's featherweight division.
Their victories sandwiched the gold medal victory of Paul Bascon over Rujakran Juntrong of Thailand in their light welterweight finals clash as Pinoy pugs wrapped up their campaign with four gold medals, counting featherweight Ian Clark Bautista's win last Saturday.
Ando got the ball rolling for Philippines early in the day by setting new records en route to victory in the 59kg class, with judoka Rena Furukawa following suit by retaining her under 57kg women's tiara.
Charlotte Ann Tolentino and Jedah Mae Soriano delivered the first two of an expected avalanche of gold in arnis, ruling the women's full contact padded stick finals in the bantamweight and lightweight events, respectively.
Gilas Pilipinas' women's squad in regular basketball humbled Thailand 82-70 and improved to 4-1 in a tie with Malaysia.
With Afril Bernardino showing the way with 18 points, the Filipinas dictated the tempo of the match, turning back the Thais' desperate comeback bid.
They clash with Malaysia for the silver medal on May 15.
Indonesia, which shocked the Filipinas 89-68 last Friday, looks set to win the women's cage gold.
Table tennis contributed a bronze to the country's tally courtesy of Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal in men's doubles action.
For more stories on the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, click here.