Filipino ‘hero’ surfer Roger Casugay will serve as Philippine’s flag bearer for the SEA Games 2019 closing ceremony on Wednesday, December 11.
Team Philippines chef de mission Butch Ramirez confirmed La Union’s pride and 25-year-old surfer pride would carry the Philippine flag.
This was after Casugay rescued his fellow Indonesian surfer in the wake of the competition.
The competition was halted when the foreigner’s surfboard broke. Even though his performance was ongoing, Casugay did not hesitate and saved his opponent.
As the competition resumed, Casugay won the gold medal on the men’s longboard.
For this reason, Casugay will lead 1,185 Filipino athletes to the SEA Games closing ceremony at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium in Capas, Tarlac.
113 golds in SEA Games medal tally makes Philippines overall champion
With 113 golds and counting, officials called it: team Philippines is the 30th SEA Games overall winner based on the latest medal tally as of today, December 9, 2019.
“We got this. We are overall champions. Other countries don’t have much left to get gold medals from,” said Philippine Olympic Committee chair Steve Hontiveros.
Team Philippines is still leading the board with 113 golds, 87 silvers, and 89 bronzes with a total of 289 medals.
“This should give interest to the government and the private sector to support all the athletes in all the sports because they will realize their money won’t go to waste,” Hontiveros added.
Indonesia came in second with 220 medals (66 gold, 64 silver, 90 bronze) while Vietnam ranked third with 66 golds, 60 silvers, and 84 bronzes.
Get the full list of SEA Games medal tally here per team.