WORLD Games veteran Kim Mangrobang will eye a comeback to the 2025 edition of the quadrennial games for non-Olympic sports in Chengdu, China in August as she leads eight other aspirants in the Asia Triathlon Duathlon Championships this Saturday in Manama, Bahrain.
Mangrobang, who made her debut in the World Games three years ago in Birmingham, Alabama, will lead the national contingent that includes SEA Games triathlon gold medalist John Chicano, John Patric Ciron, Maynard Pecson, Franklin Yee, Merry Joy Trupa, Bea Quiambao and Jena Valdez.
Mangrobang and the rest left Manila last Tuesday together with coaches Melvin Fausto, George Vilog and assistant coach Raymund Torio, who will also compete in the men’s division. Chicano, now based in Saudi Arabia, will join them in the Bahraini capital.
Besides being a two-time SEA Games duathlon champion, Mangrobang, 33, also has won three individual women’s triathlon gold medals in the regional meet in the 2017 Malaysia, 2019 Philippine and 2021 Vietnam editionsy.
Trupa won a silver medal in the women’s elite division at the 2023 Asia Triathlon Duathlon Championships at New Clark City while Valdez won gold in the junior elite.
Chicano ruled the men’s triathlon in the Philippine Games held at the Subic Freeport Zone in Olongapo City, Zambales and was last year’s Powerman Malaysia duathlon champion.
The Pinoy campaigners need to finish in the top four of the 5K run-30K bik-5K run event in Bahrain to book a ticket into the sport included in the calendar of disciplines of the World Games set Aug. 7 to 17 in Chengdu, China.
Karateka Junna Tsukii stood out for the PH contingent in the previous meet in Alabama, capturing the gold in the women’s 50-kilogram division in kumite (sparring) while cue ace Carlo Biado bagged the men’s 9-ball mint in the 2017 Games in Wroclaw, Poland.
Among those that have already qualified for the games to be conducted in the provincial capital of Sichuan, famous for its spicy cuisine, are the national dragon boat and floorball teams, pool players Rubilen Amit and Jeffrey de Luna, kickboxer Hergie Bacyadan and wushu bets Carlos Baylon Jr., Thornton Quieney Sayan and Agatha Wong.
