Dominant Philippine Performance Reshapes SEA Games Medal Hierarchy With Shooting Sports Breakthrough

The Philippines delivered a commanding display at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, with practical shooting emerging as an unexpected powerhouse. A historic eight-gold haul on Monday propelled Manila’s athletes to surpass Malaysia in the overall standings, signaling a significant shift in regional sporting dynamics.

Practical shooting, featured in the SEA Games for the first time, became the Philippines’ biggest winner of the day. The nation’s shooters—Rolly Nathaniel Tecson, Edcel John Gino, Genesis Pible, and Erin Mattea Micor—claimed all four individual medals at the THPSA Shooting Range in Chonburi. Tecson dominated the men’s standard individual event, while Micor secured the women’s open title. Gino and Pible triumphed in their respective production optic categories, establishing the Philippines as an emerging force in competitive shooting. Tecson, a veteran of the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) World Shoots, highlighted the nation’s untapped potential: “We possess both the talent and competitive edge in this discipline. The Philippines boasts numerous athletes capable of excelling at the highest levels,” he remarked.

Beyond the shooting range, Philippine athletes demonstrated versatility across multiple disciplines. Weightlifter Elreen Ando claimed the women’s 63kg crown with a combined lift of 229kg—103kg in snatch and 127kg in clean and jerk—securing back-to-back SEA Games titles following her 59kg victory two years prior. Her performance underscored the Philippines’ growing strength in traditional Olympic sports.

Track and field provided additional momentum. Hussein Loraña, just 21 years old, clocked 1:48.80 to win the men’s 800m, overtaking Thailand’s defending champion Joshua Atkinson. In the women’s 800m, 16-year-old sensation Naomi Cesar edged Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Thu Ha in a razor-thin contest, recording 2:10.2 to claim her first major international title. Wushu competitor Jones Inso added another gold in the men’s taijiquan-taijijian, finishing ahead of strong Singaporean challengers with a score of 19.563 points.

The cumulative effect reshaped Southeast Asia’s competitive landscape. With 25 gold medals, 37 silvers, and 80 bronzes, the Philippines moved ahead of Malaysia in fifth place overall. As five days of competition remain, the nation continues building momentum across emerging and established sporting disciplines.