Swimming scored twin victories for the Philippine delegation yesterday as United States-trained tankers Ryan Arabejo and Miguel Molina struck gold on the first full day of action in the 24 th Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima , Thailand yesterday.

The 18-year-old Arabejo ruled the men's 200m backstroke event last night by clocking 2 minutes, 5.82 seconds, edging out two Singaporeans --- Zach Ong (2:08.17) and Marcus Cheah (2:09.32).

Arabejo registered 50m splits of 30.43, 31.77, 32.19 and 31.43 at the His Majesty the King's 80 th Anniversary pool.

Molina, the most bemedalled tanker in the 2005 Games, came from behind to nip Mohammad Nasution of Indonesia in a thrilling 400m individual medley final.

Nasution took charge in the butterfly and backstroke legs, before Molina picked up the pace in the breastroke and freestyle to retain his crown by clocking 4:28.85, just .06 seconds ahead of the Indonesian.

It was an impressive victory for Molina as he pushed hard and caught up with Nasution at the end of the breastroke and engaged the Indonesian in a toe-to-toe duel which he won in pulsating fashion.

The victories at the pool came a day after mountain biker Joey Barba of Dumaguete City won the men's downhill event at Khao Yai Thieng.

The Philippines also grabbed five silvers, two courtesy of Rosie Villarito of Cauayan town and Julius Sermona of Himamaylan, and six bronzes, one from Joebert Delicano of Victorias , yesterday.

With a 3-gold, 8-silver, 8-bronze haul, the Filipinos leapt to fifth place in the medal table as of 8 p.m. last night. Thailand is starting to breakaway by claiming 15 golds yesterday, hiking its tally to 33 titles.

Villarito, 27, recorded a 50.49-meter-effort to settle for the silver in women's javelin throw. Winning the gold was Thailand 's Buoban Panang, who established a new SEA Games record of 55.97m.

Sermona, 29, clocked 14 minutes, 24.72 seconds for the silver, behind Boonthung Srisung of Thailand , who checked in at 14:18.05.

Delicano, 27, leapt to a distance of 16.07m for the bronze with Theerayut Philakong bagging the gold in record-breaking fashion in 16.44m leap.

The other silvers yesterday came courtesy of Mary Grace Milgar in women's 400m hurdles, Eusebio Quiñones in men's cross country cycling and Marcus Valda in men's freestyle wrestling 84 kg division.

Also taking bronze medals were Eliezer Sunang in men's shotput, Nino Surban in men's cross country cycling, Marites Bitbit in women's cross country cycling, Maribel Jambora women's freestyle wrestling 48 kgs. and Ma. Cristina Vergara women's freestyle wrestling 51 kgs.

Negrense boxers Godfrey Castro of Cadiz City and Larry Semillano of Bago City also got off to swashbuckling starts and assured themselves of bronze medals at the Tumbang Muaengpag gym.

Castro scored a referee-stopped-contest win over Laos ' Xayyaphone Chanthasone to clinch a place in the flyweight semifinals. A solid flurry from Castro prompted the referee to stop the fight at the 2-minute mark of round 2 with the Filipino ahead, 13-4.

Semillano, a gold medalist 10 years ago in Jakarta , clobbered Quang Doc Dinh of Vietnam, 27-7, in the lightwelterweight division.

Philippine teams with Negrenses in its rosters also prevailed with the highly-touted RP men's basketball team coming away with a runaway 136-82 triumph over Cambodia .

Ex-University of St. La Salle standout Jeffrei Chan of Bacolod City was among the RP cagers in double-figures with 15 points in the one-sided victory.

In women's beach volleyball, the tandem of Bacoleña Michelle Laborte and Michelle Carolino made a rousing debut, posting a 21-13, 21-13 whipping of Laos in just 27 minutes.

But the men's futsal team, with Ali Rojas-Go and Elvin Marcellana in its fold, bowed to Malaysia , 4-8, in its opening match.

Sheena Atilano did not finish the 100m sprint semifinals yesterday and is now setting her sights on the gold in her favorite event, the 100m hurdles.

Arnold Villarube of Escalante City is ranks third midway into the decathlon events with 3,680 points. A natural sprinter, he topped the 100m, ranked second in long jump but fared poorly in the 400m, high jump and shotput.*CPT

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