Taekwondo jins Francis Camille Alarilla, Janice Lagman, and Rani Ann Ortega raise their souvenir mascots after receiving their gold medals for the poomsae event in the 25th Southeast Asian Games Wednesday in Laos. (Photo by ALBERT GARCIA)

VIENTIANE, Laos — The Philippines captured its first gold medal in the 25th Southeast Asian Games when its fancied world team champion won the women's poomsae event in taekwondo at the packed Booyong gym inside the National University here Wednesday.

Just a week before conquering the world stage in Cairo, Egypt, Rani Ann Ortega, Camille Alarilla, and Janice Lagman bucked a sluggish start with a near-perfect performance in the second poomsae, known by its KOrean name as pyongwon.Trailing Vietname after the first poomsae, the celebrated cousins went through their second routine with surgery-like precision and accuracy to post the highest score in their event.

Vietnam, first on the stage, had earlier set the tone with a strong 8.47 performance in the first poomsae, a keumgang.

The second poomsae, ordinarily the easier of the two forms, produced only 8.4 points for Vietnam.

Indonesia failed to come close to Vietnam’s score, posting 8.27 and 8.14 points, leaving the Philippines and Thailand as the only teams that can overtake the Vietnamese.

Shaky and struggling to hold their balance, the Filipinas could only earn 8.37 points in the first poomsae that requires them to balance with one leg four times.

Ortega, the eldest at 23, said they knew they had to come out strong to overcome their rivals.

The result was 8.6 points.

That left Thailand as the only team capable of denying the Filipinas the gold medal.

The Thais matched the Filipinas’ 8.37 points in the first poomsae and nearly pulled the stunning upset with a score of 8.57 points.

After Thailand’s score was announced, the noisy RP crowd, made up of athletes and relatives of the participants, went delirious as the three cousins celebrated at the holding room.

On a scale of 1-10, RP coach Igor Mella rated his team’s performance a 9 in the second poomsae.

“They were magnificent. They were good out there,” said Mella who handled the three since they were small.

“We were nervous. There were a lot of Filipinos at the stands. They seem to be so close to the stage. Seeing our relatives made us more nervous,” said Alarilla, an Ateneo business management graduate.

Vietnam, tipped to give the world champions a stiff challenge, settled for the bronze medal behind Thailand which won its first-ever medal in international competition.

The Filipinos also bagged the bronze medals in the men’s team and mixed pair events to close out their campaign in poomsae.

The members of the men’s team were Anthony Matias and brothers Brian Sabido and Jean Pierra Sabido while the mixed pair was made up of JP Sabido and Ortega.

Vietnam won two golds while the rest of the events went to Laos and Myanmar.

Even before the formal start of the Games, Myanmar was on top of the medal tally with two golds, two silvers and a bronze followed by Vietnam with a 2-1-1 record.

Early in the day, the downhill event in mountain bike got going at Dane Soung with defending champion Joey Barba reduced to being a spectator.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) rejected an appeal from the SEAG council to grant temporary licenses to Filipino riders Tuesday, dealing a final blow to the country’s gold medal quest in the sport.

Marites Bitbit is the only rider from the 12-man team that can compete, but won’t likely see action, according to RP coach Joselito Santos.

“This is a matter of principle because we know that our team is the legal representative of the country,” he said.

The cycling row came on the heels of the country’s first medal – a silver medal in water polo.