DAVAO City's karateka Rexor Romaquin Tacay and Davao del Norte boxer Charly Suarez fell short of the gold medal as they salvaged a silver and bronze, respectively, in their respective 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games events in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia late Tuesday.
Tacay absorbed a heartbreaking loss to Thailand's Supa Ngamphuengphit, 5-6, in their men's kumite -67 kilogram division championship match.
The Dabawenyo earlier took a 5-3 lead but the Thai recovered to secure the win. It was Tacay's first individual SEA Games silver finish since joining the national team in 2011.
Tacay, who started playing the sport at age five, is a son of the late Ricardo Tacay who founded the Philippine Shotokan Karatedo Association and brother of former national team member Bern Rexander who currently heads the Philippine Karatedo Federation (PKF) Davao.
His teammates Jayson Macaalay (men's 60 kg silver), James delos Santos (men's individual kata bronze) and Junna Tsukii (women's kumite 50 kg) also claimed medals for the country.
Rio 2016 Olympian Suarez, for his part, lost to Wuttichai Masuk of Thailand on points in men's boxing light welterweight (64 kg) on a questionable note.
Suarez, who clinched the featherweight gold in the 2009 Laos SEA Games and the lightweight gold in 2011 Indonesia SEA Games, said he was surprised by the judges' decision.
"Wala man ko maglisod nya tingala ko ngano midaug (I didn't have a hard time with the Thai boxer I wonder why he was declared the winner)," Suarez said in a Facebook interview with Sun.Star Davao yesterday.
Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) executive director also shared the same sentiment. In a statement, he said, "I am really disappointed with the decision because you can see that hindi tumatama at sumusuntok ang kalaban pero nanalo."
Suarez, however, said, "I still praise and thank the Lord for His blessings na nakuha nako diri (that I got here)."
Ian Clark Bautista also suffered the same fate. He succumbed to Tanes Ongjunta of Thailand.
But Mario Fernandez, who will clash with Chatchai Butdee of Thailand in the finals of the bantamweight category; Eumir Felix Marcial, who will fight Thai in Pathomsak Kuttiya in middleweight, and Filipino-British Marvin John Tupas, who will collide with Adli Hapidz Bin Mohd Fauzi of Malaysia in light heavyweight, stayed alive to battle for golds.
