Toledo, Sunang banner Phl bid in pre-Asiad meet

Southeast Asian Games decathlon gold medalist Aries Toledo and long jump bronze medal winner Marestella TorresSunang will spearhead a crack Philippine team vying in the pre-Asian Games athletics event slated Feb. 11-15 in Palembang, Indonesia.

Phl track and field chief Philip Ella Juico yesterday said Toledo, who stunned the elite field to clinch the decathlon mint in Kuala Lumpur, and Sunang will be using the five-day event as part of their buildup for the Asiad set Aug. 18 to Sept. 2, 2018.

Also seeing action are Mark Harry Diones, a triple jump silver medalist, and Janry Ubas, a long jump bronze medal winner, and possibly some members of the relay team, including Anfernee Lopena, Archand Christian Bagsit, Edgardo Alejan and Michael Carlo del Prado.

Fil-Ams Trenten Anthony Beram, who won a pair of SEAG golds, and Eric Cray, who snared a mint, will skip the meet due to previous commitments. The former is currently training in the US while the latter is set to join the World Indoor Championships also in February in Birmingham, England.

“We intend to test our athletes and to see what the other teams have since athletics is part of the pre-Asian Games in Palembang,” said Juico.

He said all medalists in the last SEAG all made the Asiad standard set by the Philippine Olympic Committee.

The Phl bagged five golds, three silvers and 10 bronzes in Kuala Lumpur but failed to win a single medal in the last edition of the Asiad in Incheon, Korea three years ago.

“Training of our athletes will resume on Jan. 3 and we need to ramp up our Asian Games preparation because we only have six to seven months to prepare,” said national team coach Jojo Posadas.