The national athletics team made its presence felt as it pocketed five medals in the 2023 Taiwan Athletics Championship Open over the weekend.
Long-distance runner Sonny Wagdos spearheaded the attack for the Filipinos, who claimed two golds, two silvers and a bronze medal in this prestigious tourney that serves as a warm-up for the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships in July in Thailand and the 19th Asian Games in China in September.
The 29-year-old Wagdos clocked 31 minutes and 18.50 seconds to claim the gold medal in the men’s 10,000-meter event over 32nd Southeast Asian Games silver medalist Soh Rui Yong of Singapore and Chiang Chieh-Wen of Chinese Taipei.
Soh tallied 31:25.25 while Chiang clocked 32:01.99.
Wagdos also pocketed a silver medal in the 5,000-meter run after tallying 14:47.23 while Baek Seung Ho of South Korea clinched the gold with 14:45.71.
Also delivering a gold medal for the Filipinos was SEA Games bronze medalist Frederick Ramirez, who tallied 47.02 seconds to rule the men’s 400-meter run.
Hometown bet Yu Chenyi settled for silver with 47.38 seconds while Thana Rajan Thiruben of Singapore claimed the bronze with 47.74 seconds.
Meanwhile, SEA Games champion Janry Ubas had to settle for a silver medal after notching 7.95 meters in the men’s long jump event while another forger regional titlist in Clinton Bautista also failed to grab the gold as he clocked 13.92 seconds for a bronze-medal finish in the men’s 110-meter hurdles.
Still, Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association secretary general Edward Kho is happy with the performance of the 10-man athletics team.
“It’s a good tune-up for them, especially those who won medals because they are the ones who we seeded for the Asian Championships,” Kho told Daily Tribune in an interview.
“Our purpose of joining the tournament is two pronged: One is to keep our gold and silver medalists sharp for the Asian Championships. The second intention was to give exposure to the non-SEA Games athletes.”
Ubas and 13 other Filipino tracksters who won the gold and silver medals in the previous SEA Games are set to see action in the Asian Games, according to Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.
