Caluag falls short anew

TAGAYTAY CITY — After an underwhelming performance, Daniel Caluag stormed back and plucked the silver medal in the men’s BMX racing moto Tuesday at the Extreme Sports Complex here.

Caluag, the Asian Games gold medalist who represented the country in the London Olympics, scored a total of five points through three heats to finish behind Komet Sukprasert of Thailand, who clinched the gold medal with four points.

Another Thai in Somkid Haratawan finished behind them with 10 points to settle for bronze medal.

Meanwhile, Caluag’s younger brother in Christopher Caluag fell short as he finished fourth.

“It was a great performance today. It’s not the result I wanted, but I executed as much as I can, and ended up getting the second place,” the 32-year old Los Angles-based rider said.

“Going into the last moto, I felt pretty great, but he (Sukprasert) ended up having the inside. He had a little bit more than me.”

Considered as the most experienced cyclist in the competition, Caluag banged a thunderous start and instantly broke out from the pack in the first heat by clocking 33.423 seconds.

But Sukprasent mounted a furious comeback in the second heat with a 31.960 seconds finish.

Both riders went neck and neck in the final heat but the Thai cyclist continued his pace and aggression, ultimately emerging on top with the time of 32.197 seconds.

“Thailand was the better athlete today.” Caluag showed no frustration in assessing his performance.

“I had a pretty good performance in here. I did what I needed to do. I took one race at a time,” he said.

“I did my best and came out with a silver medal. I’m pretty psyched with my performance.”

For the veteran cyclist, there is no chance slowing down at this point as he seeks to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“You know, age is just a number. It’s about the preparation and things that I do.”

“It’s right around the corner, (Olympic) qualifiers will be six months from now. I know I need to prepare with my coach and the team.”