Kenneth Riley Buenavides and Merica Lilyn Chan settled for silvers in their debut for Team Philippines at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games' last day of taekwondo kyorugi competitions on Saturday at the Island Hall inside the Fashion Island Mall in Bangkok, Thailand.
Buenavides, 20, struggled in the first trying force a deciding round, but Thai Thanapoom Fuangnoi shut the door with a solid flurry of kicks to score, 13-11, as time expired resulting in a 2-0 win and claim the gold in the men's final -63kgs class.
"It was disappointing. I could not get the gold, so it means I really need to continue working hard," said Buenavides, who is based in Los Angeles, California. "But I am still grateful to have this opportunity. I will be back stronger."
He blasted Phoutthasone Xayyaseng of Laos in the semifinal round to meet Fuangnoi who crushed Indonesian Muhammad Bassam Raihan.
Meanwhile, Chan of Cotabato City lost to hometown bet Sasikarn Tongchan, 0-2, to settle for silver in her biennial meet debut in the -63 kgs women event. She advanced to the final after her Cambodian foe Julie Mam withdrew from the competition.
"Not satisfied with what I accomplished at this SEA Games. I must learn from this," said Chan, a gold medalist in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines women's 67 kgs division last year. "I am not going to stop from my hard work."
Dave Cea, meanwhile, got the bronze in the men's -74kg, while Baby Jessica Canabal also bagged bronze in the women's -53kg.
The Philippine taekwondo team concluded the games with two gold medals from Tachiana Mangin in women's -49 kgs class and poomsae's Justin Kobe Macario, to go with six silvers and six bronzes.
"The setup of division gives the host country the advantages of competing in full seven events while participating countries are only allowed to compete in five events," Philippine Taekwondo Association Secretary-General Rocky Samson said.
"For a fair and equal treatment, and clean decision by the host, I guess we made three or four of the six silvers into five to six gold medals."
The haul was far from the team's last SEA Games medal harvest of six gold medals, one silver and eight bronzes in Cambodia two years ago.