ALTHOUGH slightly disappointed by the result of athletics’ drive in the 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games, athletics chief Terry Capistrano was nonetheless encouraged by the “near-misses” and new faces that emerged from the meet held at the Morodok Techno National Stadium in Phnom Penh.
“Of course, I am slightly disappointed since we were unable to match our five golds during the last Vietnam SEA Games. But on the other hand, we had more silvers, some of them near-misses, and new faces from Cambodia that was also encouraging,” Capistrano said in an online meeting last Sunday night.
Also gracing the meeting were athletics secretary general Edward Kho and athletes Ernest John Obiena, Eric Shawn Cray, Umajesty Williams, and Janry Ubas, who all won gold medals, as well as Michael del Prado and Joyme Sequita, members of the victorious men’s 4×400-meter relay squad with Williams.
Pinoy bets won four gold, 10 silver and eight bronze medals to finish fifth overall out of eight countries that saw action in the games, a dip from the 5-7-14 haul they had in the Vietnam Games and a far cry from the 11-8-8 output they had in the Philippine edition four years ago.
But Capistrano noted there were some “50-50” chances that could have easily turned into gold, among them the runner-up finish in the men’s 400-meter race by Williams, who finished a close second with a time of 46.52 seconds to Malaysian victor Umar Osman (46.34).
He singled out rookie Gennah Malapit, 16, who “came out of nowhere” to secure the silver medal in the women’s javelin throw with a throw of 49.55 meters, relegating veteran teammate Evalyn Palabria (48.31) to the bronze meal.
“I didn’t know we had her (Malapit) until she surprised us with a silver finish in the women’s javelin,” Capistrano said.
Among the disappointments were Willie Morrison III, a back-to-back SEA Games medalist in the men’s shotput who appeared out of shape and wallowed in his pet event in fifth place with a hurl of 16.14 meters, way off his SEA Games mark of 18.14 meters set in the Vietnam Games in Hanoi last year.
