Dela Cruz, Men's Compound team deliver two bronze in archery, third medal for PH in SEA Games

Earl Yap of the Philippines team up with Paul Marton Dela Cruz and Joseph Vicencio for the third medal won by the country. (KL 2017)

By Julian Rikki Reyes

MANILA -- The Philippines' Archery team is off to a hot start as it won two bronze medals in Archery's Men’s Individual and Men’s Team Compound  in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games at the Bukit Jalil complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Paul Marton Dela Cruz salvaged the second medal of the Philippines in the biennial meet after winning the bronze in the men’s individual on Wednesday.

The 30-year old Dela Cruz yielded earlier in the semifinal round to top-ranked archer Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki of Malaysia but rebounded strongly to edge out another hometown bet Zulfadhli Ruslan, 154-153, in the battle for the bronze.

Dela Cruz and Ruslan actually finished tied at 144, but the former fired 10 in the shoot-off to nip the Malaysian archer who only had 9.

High fives for the trio of De La Cruz, Yap and Vicencio as they take bronze in the Men's Compound Team. (KL2017)

Ranked 56th by the World Archery Federation, Dela Cruz then joined his teammates Joseph Benjamin Vicencio and Earl Benjamin Yap in the team event on Thursday as they took down Vietnam for the bronze, capping off with a perfect 60 in the final end.

Ruslan avenged his loss to Dela Cruz as he leads the hosts to their second gold medal after downing Singapore in the final, 228-222.

The Philippines, however, fell down to fifth place in the medal tally as of August 17.

Host Malaysia leads the 11-nation sports meet with 2 golds, 1 silver, and 2 bronzes. Not far behind is Indonesia with 2 golds and a silver.

The 29th edition of the SEA Games will officially open on Saturday.

Follow him on Twitter: @julianrcreyes