‘September to remember’

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POLE vault star EJ Obiena carried the cudgels in a “September to remember” for the country’s sporting warriors.

Obiena, the world’s No. 2 pole vaulter, lived up to his lofty billing and produced the country’s first gold medal in Hangzhou with an Asian Games record-breaking mark of 5.90 meters.

GOLDEN BOY: EJ Obiena stamps his mark in Huangzhou.

This feat sparked an early rush of one-gold, one-silver and six-bronze medals for Team Philippines in the initial skirmishes of the 19th Asiad and gave Obiena the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s nod as top achiever for the month.

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Also shining bright was tennis sensation Alex Eala, who ended a 61-year medal drought for Pinay netters with a bronze in women’s singles, then teamed up with Francis Casey Alcantara for a podium finish in mixed doubles.

Silver-winning wushu fighter Arnel Andal (men’s 56kg) and bronze medalists Patrick King Perez (taekwondo poomsae men’s individual), Clemente Tabugara J.r (wushu sanda men’s 65kg), Gideon Padua (wushu sanda men’s 60kg), and Jones Inso (wushu men’s taijijian) joined the list achievers.

In faraway Genk, Belgium, Kevin Pascua led a 1-1-1 gold-silver-bronze harvest for the country in the OCR World Championship. Pascua won the world title in the men’s OCR 110 meter, while Precious Cabuya and Kaizen dela Serna placed 2-3 in the distaff side.

The Jordan Clarkson-led Gilas Pilipinas wrapped up its stint in the FIBA World Cup with a 96-75 rout of China in the classification stage to finish 24th overall and clinch a spot in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament next year.

The country celebrated the successful hosting of the World Cup by setting a new record crowd of 38,115 set opening night during the Philippines-Dominican Republic duel at the Philippine Arena.

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