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SEA Games Rundown: Triathletes sweep gold and silver, Moreno and co. bagged another archery bronze

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Nikko Huelgas and John Chicano celebrate a Gold and Silver sweep of the Men's triathlon in KL. (Photo by the Philippine Sports Commission)
By Kevin Estrada

MANILA -- Team Pilipinas bagged two golds, two silvers and a bronze in the opening half of the eighth day of the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This comes after triathlon capped off a clean sweep of Gold and Silver, along with the men's recurve team bagging their third bronze in archery.

Nikko Huelgas and John Chicano went 1-2 in the men's triathlon in Putrajaya Lake, with the veteran Huelgas the lone athlete to break the 2-hour barrier by 30 seconds to retain the gold he first won in Singapore two years ago.

Chicano took silver after crossing the finish line 1:57 behind Huelgas, with Singapore's Clement Chow completing the podium after clocking in at 2:03:24.

The Filipina triathletes also went 1-2 in their field, with Kim Mangrobang taking the gold at 2:11:14 and Claire Adorna crossing the line three minutes and 44 seconds after that for the silver.

Host nation's Irene Chong took another bronze after finishing the course at 2:25:44.

Over in Bukit Jalil, the men's recurve team took home the bronze after a dominating display, ekeing out a 6-0 trashing over Vietnam.

Comprised by Youth Olympic champion Luis Gabriel Moreno and veterans Mark Javier and Florante Matan, the Filipino archers swept all three close sets, 55-54, 50-49 and 54-52.

Back-to-back 10s by Moreno and Javier in their final arrows in the third set helped them clinch third place in the podium.

Malaysia took the men's recurve gold after thrashing Thailand, 5-1 in the final.

With the haul, the Philippines now has three golds, four silvers and three bronzes as of this writing.

Follow him on Twitter: @KevinLEstrada