Martinez flashes fine form, reigns in Asian Open

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino Winter Olympian Michael Martinez flashed top form and romped off with the senior men’s crown in the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2015 over the weekend in Bangkok, Thailand.

Martinez, the first from a tropical country to skate in the Winter Games in Sochi, earned 188.53 points to cop the gold medal at the expense of Japanese Kenjei Tanaka (182.70) and Hiraoki Sato (145.89).

The 18-year-old Martinez topped the short program with his Beethoven Egmont Overture performance with 72.14. He later logged a second-best 116.39 performing to Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet in the free skating to finish first overall and dispose of the challenge of Tanaka (61.64 and 121.06) and Sato (55.38 and 90.51).

Finishing far off the podium were Taiwanese Chih-I Tsao (141.74) and Meng-jung Lee (124.65), Hong Kong bet Kwun Hung Leung (116.63), Taiwanese Jui-shu Chen (115.81), Australian Cameron Hemmert (113.44) and Indian Raj Kumar Tiwari (21.6).

The victory continued the win streak this year for Martinez, who last April retained his title in the Triglav Trophy in Slovenia.