Negrense Sheena Atilano became the latest toast of Philippine athletics as she shattered a 16-year-old national record in women’s 100-m hurdles in the 2007 Asian Athletic Grand Prix in Pune City in Western India Wednesday.
The La Carlota-born hurdler, the Philippines’ lone bet in the Asian GP, galloped her way to a bronze medal finish by clocking 13.65 seconds, one-hundredths of a second faster than the old mark held by athletics legend Elma Muros, who set the record during the 1991 SEA Games in Manila.
It was Atilano’s third medal in the three-leg Grand Prix.
The 27-year-old athlete, who trained in Southern California in the United States from January to May, claimed a silver medal in the Bangkok leg by timing in at 14.00 seconds, before bagging a bronze in the Guwahati leg with a 13.92 seconds clocking.
Atilano, who studied at Doña Hortensia Salas Benedicto National High School in La Carlota and the University of St. La Salle, before transferring to De La Salle-Taft, earned a total of $2,100 ($98,000) with her two top three finishes and the second-place finish.
Anastasiya Vinogradova of Kazakhstan completed a sweep of all three legs, winning her third gold with a time of 13.22 seconds.
'FOCUSED AND DISCIPLINED’
“Sheena is focused and very disciplined,” Atilano’s training partner in the, national sprinter Ralph Waldy Soguilon told the DAILY STAR last night in a telephone interview. Soguilon is the RP record holder in the 100-m and 200-m events.
Soguilon said Atilano, who works as a content developer for an online mobile messaging service company Chikka Philippines, had wanted to break the RP mark even before they arrived in the Philippines last May 31.
“That was her target before we left for the US,” Soguilon, who spoke to Atilano after her record-breaking performance, added. “She’s really happy”.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Before she left for the US, Atilano was nowhere near the RP mark. “Her record was in the 14.6 seconds-range,” Arniel Ferrera, another Negrense athlete in the RP Team, said.
Go Teng Kok, president of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association, could not help but marvel at Atilano’s vast improvement.
“She is improving so fast, and I have no doubt she will be one of gold medalist in the coming SEA Games, I can bet on that,” Go said.
Go explained that besides Atilano’s continuous improvement, the performance of her Southeast Asian rivals are on a decline, making her one of the country’s bright prospects in the biennial Games slated in December in Thailand.
"She has already beaten the Indonesian (Erawati) who was the silver medalist last time. Then the gold medalist, the Malaysian (Moh Siew Wei) is plague by injuries. So I could say Sheena is almost a sure gold,” Go said.
Atilano joined the elite company of Eduardo Buenavista, Ernie Candelario, Rene Herrera, Marestella Torres, Lerma Bulauitan-Gabito and Domingo Manata, who had won a medal in the Grand Prix.
More than 150 athletes from 23 Asian countries participated in this three-leg series, which slated a total of 21 events with the top three in the individual competitions receiving US$1,500, US$800 and US$500 while the top two in the team events will get US$400 and US$200, respectively.
Other countries represented in the event are India, Iran, Sri Lanka, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Pakistan, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Singapore, and China. *Cedelf P. Tupas
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