
Raph Trinidad flaunts his skills during a promotional shoot in Palawan. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
SANCHA LAKE, China—Raph Trinidad provided a rare bright spot for the Philippines at the 2025 World Games, clawing his way into the men’s cable wakeboard finals after a tense semifinal at the Sancha Lake Taohuadao Arena on Saturday.
Trinidad, who placed third overall in the heats, squeezed into Sunday’s medal round with 70.80 points—well off his 80.20 mark from Friday’s qualifiers. He will face France’s Loic Deschaux (89.80), Germans Max Milde (86.60) and Florian Weiherer (77.20), Isaac Claudio of the United States (75.00) and Hungary’s Oliver Orban (73.00) in the final at 10:45 a.m.
“We will have a better idea come the finals,” said coach Carlo dela Torre. “He is up against heavy hitters from Germany and France. We’ll do our best.”
Elsewhere, Eric Ordonez bowed out of the men’s wake surf semifinals, finishing fifth in his heat with 40.00 points. Only the top three in each group advanced to the medal round.
The national dragon boat squad also endured a wipeout at the Xinglong Lake Hubin Arena, missing the cut in all four events—the 8-seater 200m and 500m, and the 10-seater 200m and 500m—during their qualifiers and semifinals. The 8-seater 2000m crew, which went straight to the finals, placed ninth out of 10 boats. They will try again in the 10-seater 2000m final Sunday at 11 a.m.
In wushu, Jones Llabres Inso placed seventh overall in the combined taijiquan and taijijian with a 19.112 total at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Gymnasium.
The men’s floorball team fell hard to Sweden, 11-1, with Lucas Enaje scoring the lone Philippine goal on a first-period penalty.