Pinays snap medal drought

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Lerma Bulauitan-Gabito and Marestella Torres finished 2-3 in the women’s long jump Saturday, snapping the Philippines long medal drought in the Asian Athletic Championships.

Gabito’s silver was the country’s best in 17 years while Torres’ bronze matched Elma Muros-Posadas effort in the 1993 Manila edition of the event being held at the Sugathadasa Stadium here for the first time.

Both leaped 6.40 meters, but Gabito took second behind Kazakhstan’s Kocksheyeva Yolena (6.61m) due to a better second jump. The 27-year-old Gabito, of Penablanca, Cagayan, cleared 6.34m as against the 6.25m of the 21-year-old Torres, an FEU physical education senior from San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.

"Lerma and Marestella gave it their best shot and they were rewarded. Our athletes are performing up to par," said Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association president Go Teng Kok. "Hopefully they’ll hit peak form in time for the Asian Games in Busan."

Joebert Delicano and John Lozada also stayed in the hunt for medals.

The 22-year-old Delicano cleared 7.64m in the men’s long jump, narrowly missing Niño Ramirez’s national mark of 7.65m which has stood for 66 years, tying for third among 12 qualifiers.

Reserving his strength for the 800m semis, Lozada settled for third in heat 4 with a time of 1:52.56.

Ernie Candelario, frustrated by a false start which saw him run 120 meters before stopping, finished last in the men’s 400m won by Kuwait’s Aishammari Fawzi in 45.21 seconds.

Filipinos seeing action Sunday, the penultimate day of competitions, are Fidel Gallenero in men’s decathlon (100m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m), Geralyn Amandoron (javelin throw), Delicano (triple jump), Lozada (800m semis) and Dandy Gallenero (men’s javelin throw).

The Filipinos’ campaign in the event which will return to Manila in 2003 is being supoorted by the Philippine Sports Commission through chairman Eric Buhain.

Meanwhile, the Association of Filipinos in Sri Lanka headed by Estella Pascua hosted a dinner for the Philippine delegation Saturday. Among those present were Philippine Consul General William John Terrence Perera, Lito Nantes, Jojo Banes, Jojo Jimena, Liza Madrid and Irene Fernando.

This island nation, known for its tea and world-class cricket players, erupted in celebration after Susanthika Jayasinghe, the Sydney Olympics bronze medallist, topped the 100m in 11.29 seconds to become the meet’s fastest woman. Saudi Arabia’s Al Saffar Jamal was fastest man in 10.43 seconds.

In the race for overall supremacy, China remained in front with four gold medals, followed by Kazakhstan with three and Japan two, including Koji Murofoshi’s meet record setting 80.45m in the hammer throw.