Buenavista heads bid of crack RP tracksters

Eduardo Buenavista, the pint-sized long-distance runner with a big fighting heart, spearheads the locals’ bid against some of the finest talents in Asia when the Milo National Open-Invitational Athletics Championships is held starting today at the Rizal Memorial track and football stadium.

Still bothered by a sore foot, Buenavista remains one of the fancied bets in the 10,000-meter run, where one of the 15 gold medals is at stake in the opening day of the event serving as part of the qualifiers for the selection of the national team to this year’s SEA Games here.

"Susubukan kong manalo maski may nararamdaman ako sa paa," said Buenavista, who is still complaining of a sore left foot he sustained in a Korean meet recently.

"The Milo National Open is part of our athletes’ preparation for the SEA Games," said athletics head Go Teng Kok, who will lead the guests in the opening rites of the event alongside Immigration chief Al Fernandez.

Others gracing the affair are Philippine Sports Commission officer-in-charge William "Butch" Ramirez and Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco.

Ten other teams are also competing in the four-day event, including a group of Fil-Ams out to make a big impression since the organizing Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association is using the event as a tryout for the national team.

"I expect our local athletes to go all out and also the Fil-Ams since this is our basis for the composition of the national team that will compete in the SEA Games," added Go.

Other nations participating are SEAG rivals Brunei, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, Sabah-Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, and a token delegation from Olympic powerhouse China.

Gold medals are staked in the boys’ 10,000-m walk, men’s 20,000-m walk, girls’ long jump, men’s shot put, boys’ pole vault, women’s high jump, boys’ javelin throw in morning action in Day 1 and men’s long jump, men’s discus throw, boys‚ and men’s 3,000-m steeplechase, girls’ shot put, and girls’, women’s and men’s 10,000-m run in the afternoon. — Joey Villar