MANILA – The Philippines capped off its campaign in the 18th Asian Games with losses in triathlon events at the Jakabaring Sport City Shooting Range in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Ending their run in the tournament with 21 medals – four gold, two silver and 15 bronze – the Filipinos landed on 19th place overall.
China was the runaway overall champion with a 132-92-65 (gold-silver-bronze) medal haul. Japan (75-56-74), South Korea (49-58-70), Indonesia (31-24-43), Uzbekistan (21-24-25) followed suit.
Philippine reps Kim Mangrobang and Filipina-American Kim Kilgroe struggled with the hot temperature and faded on the last lap of the run, finishing seventh in the women’s triathlon.
Battling for third after the 40-km bike race, Mangrobang struggled late in the race to submit a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 20 seconds. Kilgroe, who managed to move to second at one point in the bike leg, placed ninth with 2:06:57.
“Masayang-masaya na rin po ako sa naging resulta ng laro ko,” said Mangrobang. “Nag-training kami ng mahirap para dito pareho ng mga kalaban. Lahat naghanda. Pakiramdam na lang kung sino ang mas maganda na lang sa araw ng laro.”
“Just being here is already an awesome experience for me,” Kilgroe said. “To be able to play for our country and get a good finish exceeded my expectations.”
Filipino triathletes John Chicano and Niko Huelgas also faltered in the men’s event as they finished on 10th and 16th places, respectively.
Chicano – a silver medalist in the 2017 Malaysia Southeast Asian (SEA) Games – clocked 1:54:33 in the 1.80-km swim / 20-km bike / 10-km run race, exceeding his personal best of 1:56:00 set in the 2016 Subic International Triathlon.
Huelgas, who bagged back-to-back golds in the 2015 Singapore and the 2017 Malaysia SEA Games, logged 1:58:39 – surpassing his previous time of 1:59:17 for which he placed 11th in the 2014 Incheon Games.
In equestrian single finals, Mary Antonette Leviste finished the women’s event on 11th place despite no penalties while Joker Arroyo ended up on 17th place in men’s event after committing two violations.
Jann Mari Nayre bowed out of men’s table tennis after an 11-9, 4-11, 3-11, 4-11, 5-11 defeat to Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong while Jason Balabal faltered in men’s kurash./PN
