Calano, Bautista pull off surprises
I’m not surprised I won it. I claimed it even before the start
CAPAS CITY — The Philippine athletics team got surprise gold contributions from Melvin Calano and Clinton Bautista, who ruled their respective events in Day 4 of the athletics competition of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last night here at the New Clark City Athletic Stadium.
Calano ruled the men’s javelin throw while Bautista edged his Malaysia rival in a photo finish to claim the gold in the 110-meter hurdles, giving the national team its eighth and ninth in the 11-nation conclave.
The 28-year old Calano, who won the bronze in the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, threw 72.86 meters he achieved in his fourth attempt.
“The preparation is not easy. I have to prepare my myself physically, mentally and spiritually,” said Calano, who finally nailed his first SEA Games gold.
“But I’m not surprised I won it. I claimed it even before the start. I have faith in God and He gave me strength in this competition,” he added.
Indonesia’s Abd Hafiz took the silver medal with a distance of 71.00 meters followed by Vietnam’s Hoai Van Nguyen, who settled for the bronze with 70.88 distance.
The men’s 110-meter hurdles provided quite a show as Bautista and Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian submitted identical times of 13.97 seconds but the Filipino bet beat him for the gold medal.
“I just stayed focus. I don’t mind the crowd because I really wanted this badly,” said Bautista, who was egged by the crowd here including his relatives from Camiling, Tarlac.
“I didn’t expect to win this because I had a knee injury but we’ve been training for two years. And this is important for us since the SEA Games is here,” he added.
Bautista’s gold-medal time was a personal best and promised to do better as he aims for a slot in the coming Asian Games.
With two more golds, the Philippine tracksters now have nine, more than three of the target of Philippine Track and Field Athletic Association president Philip Ella Juico.
Christine Hallasgo (women’s marathon), Kristina Knott (women’s 200-meter), EJ Obiena (men’s pole vault), Natalie Uy (women’s pole vault), Willie Morrison (men’s shot put), the 4x-100 mixed gender relay team and Sarah Dequina (women’s heptathlon) took the gold medals in their respective events.