VIENTIANE – The Philippines, struggling to keep pace in the overall medal race, begins its campaign in athletics Sunday in the 25th Southeast Asian Games at the National Stadium.

With seven gold medals at the end of hostilities Friday, the Filipinos lag behind in sixth place, one gold less behind fifth-running Malaysia.

Four nations are locked in a close fight for the overall championship with Vietnam and Singapore tied with 14 golds each, followed by Thailand and Indonesia with 13 and 11, respectively.

Vietnam flexed its muscle in taekwondo and karate where it garnered nine golds while Singapore struck in swimming and shooting with golds.

Thailand had six golds in shooting and three in taekwondo to fire up its title-retention bid.

Indonesia, on the other hand, relied on weightlifting, karate and cycling to amass nine golds.

No country has so far been dominating four days into the Games in stark contrast to 2007 when host Thailand creamed the field with 182 golds.

As the Games approach the halfway mark, athletics, the centerpiece event, gets going with eight final events on tap, including the men’s hammer throw where Arniel Ferrera is the defending champion.

The other final events are men’s triple jump, men’s shot put, men’s and women’s 400-meter hurdles, women’s javelin throw, women’s century dash and the men’s 5,000-meter run.

The first event begins at 2:30 p.m.

Joebert Delicano and Eliezer Sunang hope to improve on his bronze finishes in men’s triple jump and men’s shotput, respectively during the 2007 Games.

Rosie Villarito, the 2007 silver medalist, competes in the women’s javelin while Sermona, also a silver medalist, takes a crack at the 5,000-meter run.

The Philippines won five golds in athletics two years ago.

A total of 33 gold medals are at stake Saturday with the Philippines pinning its hopes on taekwondo, swimming and karate.

Siblings John Paul and Jyra Marie Lizardo will cap the Philippines’ impressive drive in taekwondo when they compete in the men’s pinweight and women’s flyweight events, respectively.

In swimming, Ryan Arabejo qualified fastest in the 400-meter freestyle event where he is the defending champion.

Arabejo, who trains in the United States, clocked 4:05.73, nearly a second faster than Malaysian Kevin Yeap.

Fil-American Charles Walker also was the fastest qualifier in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 59.31 seconds ahead of Malaysian Ian James Barr who did 59.51 seconds.

In the men’s 100-meter butterfly, James Walsh was second best behind Thailand’s Chatmongkon Noiaree.

Rookie Jasmine Alkhaldi lost a thrilling race with Singapore’s Ting Ting Koh in the first heat of the women’s 100-meter backstroke to qualify with the second best time.

Koh clocked 1:03.47 while Alkhaldi timed 1:03.50.

Also on Saturday, the Philippines battled Thailand for the men’s tennis title with Fil-Americans Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey seeing action in singles.

In karate, Mae Soriano and Ireneo Toribio try to give the Philippines its second gold in the sport.

Over at the Booyong gym, women boxers Annie Albania, Mitchel Martinez, Josie Gabuco and Alice Kate Aparri  launched their separate bids.

Muay competition resumed with Preciosa Ocaya, Rolando Claro and J. Polosan seeing action.

In golf, the Philippines tries to overturn Singapore’s four-shot lead in the men’s team event while starting its campaign in the distaff side.

In pencat silat, Marie Charilou Rabino (class B 50kg-55kg.), Nerlyn Huinda (class c 55kg.-60kg.), Marniel Dimla (class F 70kg. 75kg),   (M) Joe Maria Rivas (class A 45kg-50kg), Jul-Omar Abdulhakim (class B 50kg.-55kg.), Christopher Yabut (class C 55kg. 60kg.), Joemil Solomon (Class E 65kg.-70kg) kicked off the country’s bid.

And in billiards, former world champion Ronnie Alcano began his title defense in the 8-ball singles competition. (Tempo Sports)