PHNOM PENH. – Eric Shaun Cray handily won the 400m hurdles for the sixth straight time Thursday and saved the day for the Philippines’ free-falling campaign in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.
Bugged by a nagging sports hernia, Cray, 34, battled through the pain to clock 50.03 seconds at the Morodok Techno National Stadium, easily beating Natthapon Dansungnoen of Thailand (50.73) and Calvin Quek of Singapore (50.75).
Cray gave the Philippines its third gold in athletics after the record pole vault win of EJ Obiena and the breakthrough victory of long jumper Janry Ubas and said his next step is try to quality for the Paris Olympics next year.
He delivered the country’s 27th gold here on a day Pinoy athletes, backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, struggled anew against the gold-churning machines of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Starting the day in sixth place, the Pinoy contingent stayed there as of 8:30 p.m., with the Malaysian squad not far behind in seventh.
Vietnam showed the way with 57 gold medals, just one ahead of the Cambodian side that nearly swept all the gold medals staked for the day in kun khmer, a martial art indigenous to Cambodians, and three ahead of Thailand. Indonesia moved up to fourth, followed by the resurgent Singaporean squad in fifth.
Unless the other members of the national squad who are still in contention step up, the Philippines faces the grim prospects of finishing sixth or, worse, seventh. The country finished seventh in the medal tally in 2013 when the games were held in Myanmar with a measly haul of 29 gold, 34 silver and 38 bronze medals.
Among those who could play savior for the country are the boxers, nine of whom are in the finals, led by Tokyo Olympians Nesty Petecio and Carlo Paalam.
The others are Rogen Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista, Paul Bascon, John Marvin, Irish Magno, Riza Pasuit and Petecio’s younger brother, Norlan.
Still to plunge into action are the country’s bets in arnis who delivered a massive gold haul back in 2019 when the sport indigenous to the Philippines was first held, the taekwondo fighters, weightlifters and judo bets, among others.
The Gilas women blasted Singapore 94-63 for their second win in as many games while the men’s team dropped a 68-79 decision to Cambodia, a loss that could greatly hurt the squad’s bid to bounce back from a silver medal finish last year in Vietnam.
Among those who tried to infuse life into the Pinoy campaign were fencer Noelito Jose, women’s hurdler Robyn Brown, Kristian Narca in kun khmer, and the women’s team in esports’ Mobile Legends Bang Bang, who all settled for silver medals.
The esports team took a 2-1 lead over Indonesia in their best-of-five battle for the gold but failed to close out their opponents in the next round and ended up losing 2-3.
The defeat prevented the PH lady gamers from claiming the country’s first women’s crown in esports at the end of their 15-minute battle with the Indonesians.
Aside from his six gold medals in the hurdles, Cray also won the gold in the 100m during the 2015 Singapore Games and was also a member of the victorious 4×100 mixed relay team in 2019 in the Philippines.
“This means everything,” said Cray, catching his breath as a swarm of reporters surrounded him. “This is a product of hard work, dedication.
“You know, we just showed a lot of perseverance. I have a lot of drive, dedication for 10 years, ups and downs after injuries and everything I’ve been through,” said Cray, who is aching to make a return to the Olympics, to be held in Paris 2024.
The next step is the Asian Championships, a qualifying tournament for the Olympiad.
“That (Olympics) is the goal,” said Cray, who is still undecided on whether to shoot for a seventh straight 400m hurdles gold when the biennial meet is held in Thailand in 2025.
