Aing triple gold medalist

Hardly satisfied with the two gold medals he won Friday, Jimar Aing plunged back into action yesterday to rule the 200-meter run and become the first triple gold medalist in the 2001 Milo Invitational track and field championships at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

The 23-year-old Navyman from Basilan, fresh from his victories in the century dash and the men’s 4 x 100-meter relay, showed that he still had a lot more kick left in his legs as he topped the 200-meter race with a time of 21.60 seconds.

Aing’s winning time was just a shade behind the standing national record of 21.55 set by Isidro del Prado in 1984.Finishing second behind the two-year member of the national team was Ernie Candelario at 21.90, followed by Ronnie Marfil at 22.80.

After clinching his third gold, Aing, part of the 4 x 400-meter team that won the bronze for the Philippines in the 1999 Brunei SEA Games, looked forward to winning two more events lined up for today’s final day of action in the event which drew six foreign countries.

"Puwede pa makalima," said Aing, referring to the 400-meter race and the 4 x 400-meter contest. Victories in these events will easily make him the most bemedalled athlete in the meet being used by the participants as training ground for the Kuala Lumpur SEAG in September.

Also winning a gold for the Philippines on the third day of competition was Joebert Delicano who ruled the men’s long jump with a distance of 7.62 meters as he nearly surpassed the long-standing national record of 7.65 set by Niño Ramirez in1936.

It was actually Delicano’s second gold following his victory in the triple jump (15.55 m) last Thursday. Winning the silver behind Delicano yesterday was Raphie Pilaspilas at 7.22, with the bronze going to Jhomillodin Lucman at 6.94.

Decathlete Fidel Gallenero also won two golds Friday, the first in 400 x 100 along with Aing, Alex Gabito and Pilaspilas, and the second in his specialty event where he won with 6,964 points after 10 events to break his own national record of 6,789 set in Brunei.

Lerma Bulauitan is the other local athlete to have won two golds, coming in the women’s century dash and long jump. Zhang Guirong, a Chinese national now fighting for Singapore, also has two golds — the women’s shot put and javelin.