The hosts, behind Jiranunt Hathaichuckiat, Krisada Varadharmapinich and Pitipoom Phasee, scored 342 for the gold while Singapore settled for the silver with a 328.

Rosario led the triumvirate with 113 points (25-23-21-24-20) while Bernardo mustered a 111 (22-25-22-20-22) and Tong, a newcomer to the squad, had 110 (24-24-21-21-20).

And as the team relinquished the title, Rosario similarly shed his individual crown after finishing only fifth with 131 including the 18 from the last 25 targets.

He ended seven points adrift of gold medalist Hathaichuckiat, who led the Thais with his 138 aggregate.

It was a 1-2 finish for the hosts as Varadharmapinich shot a 136, two points ahead of Singaporean bronze medalist Huan Lin Eugene Chiew.

The shooters will return to the country with three silver medals and a bronze, a far cry from the squad’s three gold medals, four silvers and two bronzes harvest in the 2005 edition in Manila.

The Filipinos wound up sixth in the standings that saw Thailand dominate with 13 golds, 15 silvers and six bronzes.

While the performance of the shooting team is not that good, the country hopes to turn things around when the main bulk of the delegation, led by Philippine Olympic Committee President Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, leaves today for various venues in Thailand.

Singapore (8-6-5) placed second with Vietnam (7-3-11), Malaysia (2-3-5) and Myanmar (2-2-1) completed the top five countries with Indonesia at seventh with two bronzes.

The main venue will be at Nakhon Ratchassima (Korat) but there will also be games to be held in Bangkok and Pattaya.

A total of 227 delegates — 163 athletes and 64 officials from 17 sports — comprise the main batch while the rest of the delegation will leave the country in batches starting tomorrow.

The opening ceremony which is expected to be colorful and elegant is slated tomorrow.

Leaving today are players of baseball, water polo, men’s and women’s basketball and futsal.

Nine from the athletics team will also fly today, as well as squads from boxing, gymnastics, billiards and snooker, wushu and swimming.

Athletes from equestrian, squash, beach volleyball, polo and lawn tennis are also scheduled in the Philippine Airlines flight.

Tomorrow, athletes from archery, judo, wrestling, pencak silat, petanque and the rest of the athletics squad will also leave, while members from the badminton, bowling, cycling, dancesports, fencing, golf, muay, weightlifting and softball will fly the following day.

Those from lawn bowls and traditional boat race are scheduled on Friday.

Diving and bodybuilding teams will leave on Saturday, while teams from the canoe-kayak, taekwondo and karatedo will leave on Sunday.