Maritza (centre) keeps the Sarawak and Malaysia flags flying high at the Philippine Athletics Championships
KUCHING (May 9): The Sarawak contingent got off to an encouraging start in the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships at Philsport Arena in Pasig City on Wednesday.
The 23-member team captured one gold, one silver and one bronze medals on day one of the competition that has attracted 70 teams, including two from Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and the host Philippines.
Maritza Ferrer Neil Armstrong delivered the first gold for the team when she leapt to 5.32m in the Women’s U20 long jump final, beating Rhea Antonette Lego of Adamson University (5.23m) and Krisieen Shane Santiago of Michael’s College of Laguna (5.17m) into second and third place.
The silver was won by Danea Humairaah Saryman Sufry who clocked 1:00.26 in the Women’s U20 400m to finish behind the winner Lea Kriszeda Ordinario from the University of Santo Tomas with a time of 58.09 while Jane Marie Gochoco from University of the East was third on 1:00.48.
Meanwhile, Asrul Badroldin clinched the bronze medal in the Men’s Open pole vault after he cleared 4.50m. The gold medalist was Elijah Cole of FilAm Sports who cleared the 5.20m mark while in second place was Hokett Delos Santos of the Philippines national team with 4.60m.
“This is a very good start for us as we are competing against the best from the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand.
“I am confident the early results will motivate the rest of the team to go all out and win medals for the Sarawak team,” Sukma head coach Lim Teck Leong told The Borneo Post via a WhatsApp interview today.
“The athletes in this group have exhibited strong potential, alongside mature discipline and attitude.
“In the coming days, there will be several more athletes and events to observe, requiring continued monitoring of their performances,” he said.
“The coaches possess professional knowledge and ample coaching experience and I believe that the Sarawak Sukma athletics squad will perform excellently in the coming Sukma XXI from Aug 17-24,” added Lim.