Lavandia three-gold haul caps Phl romp

MANILA, Philippines - Former Southeast Asian Games javelin queen Erlinda Lavandia scooped three gold medals to lead the Philippines’ five-gold, one-bronze performance in the 16th Asia Masters Athletics Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently.

Owner of five SEAG javelin titles in the 1980s, Lavandia bagged the gold in her pet event in record fashion, stretching her dominance in the women’s 55-60 age bracket with victories in the shot put and discus throw.

The 59-year-old Lavandia hurled the spear to a distance of 34.47 meters to easily beat Japan’s Maeda Kayako (25.44) and Malaysia’s Tay Yu Eng (22.22), obliterating the games’ mark of 27.89m posted by compatriot Lolita Lagrobab in Okinawa in 1998.

She annexed the shot put diadem with a heave of 9.52 meters at the expense of India’s Jaet Kaur (8.91) and Raj Rani Bajwa (8.17) and the discus plum with a 25.00-m effort over Tay (23.18) and Kayako (20.98).

Now a consultant for the Philippine Sports Commission monitoring the boxing, wushu and athletics bets in their Baguio City training, Lavandia said she made extra effort to gear up for the tournament.

“I trained everyday in Baguio, waking up 4 a.m. just so I can prepare for the competition and defend my crown,” said Lavandia in a radio interview, looking forward to next year’s World Masters Athletics Championships in Sacramento, where she wants to regain the javelin gold after settling for runnerup in the 2009 edition. She had previously won the plum in the world masters thrice.

Similarly pulling off record-breaking victories were pole-vaulters Emerson Obiena (men’s 45-49) and Antonio Chee Jr. (men’s 35-39).