MANILA, Philippines – The surfer with a heart of gold wins the gold medal.

Two days after his heroic act in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games surfing preliminaries, Philippine surfer Roger Casugay bagged the gold medal in the longboard open event against fellow Filipino Rogelio Esquivel on Sunday, December 8 at Kahuna beach in San Juan, La Union.

Casugay topped the podium with a final score of 14.50, narrowly beating Esquivel’s 14.20 mark.

But before his golden romp, the 25-year-old Casugay defeated a familiar friend and foe, Indonesia’s Arit Nurhidayat, in the preliminaries rematch.

Friday, December 6, Casugay went viral on social media after he rescued his Indonesian rival from drowning in the middle of th 3rd round of the surfing men’s longboard competition. (READ: ‘Heart of gold’: Pinoy SEA Games surfer lauded for saving competitor from drowning)

Courtesy of https://www.rappler.com/sports/