Sermona snares gold in HK track meet

Five members of the Philippine athletics team, including Himamaylan-born Julius Sermona, came through with golden performances in the Hong Kong Inter-City Athletics Championships over the weekend.

There was disappointment, however, for fellow Negrenses Arniel Ferrera, Jerro Perater and Loralie Amahit, who all missed on medal finishes in the hammer throw competitions.

Sermona captured the men’s 5000m gold by clocking 15 minutes, 11.72 seconds, more than a minute faster than his closest pursuer Joo Hyeon Joo of Korea, who timed 16:26.74. Hong Kong’s Lau Kwong Man settled for the bronze 17:47.74.

Ferrera, the SEA Games hammer throw record holder and has dominated this meet in the past, was way off his personal-best of 60.47-m.

Three Koreans snared the medals and Ferrera’s 55.88m effort was only good for fourth place. Perater was sixth with his 48.33m record.

Like Ferrera, Amahit has also ruled the women’s hammer throw event in the past. But she placed fifth this time, after posting 47.18m.

The RP gold medalists were led by 26-year-old Rene Herrera, a native of Guimaras, who smashed the meet record in the 3000m steeplechase on his way to the gold medal at the Wan Chai Sports Ground Sunday by clocking 9 minutes, 1.74 seconds.

Another athlete from Western Visayas, John Lozada, from Iloilo, ruled the 1500m event in 3 minutes, 59.14 seconds.

Mary Grace Milgar, a bronze winner in the 2005 SEA Games, timed 1:00.52 to snare the gold in the women's 400m hurdles.

Narcisa Atienza swept all seven events to accumulate 4,757 points and win the heptathlon gold in record-breaking fashion.

But there was heartbreak for top sprinter Ralph Waldy Soguilon, who missed out on the 200m gold by a hairline.

Soguilon, coming off a four-month training stint in the United States, and Tang Yik Chun initially posted similar 21.40 times but a review showed that the Hong Kong sprinter crossed the finish line at 21.393 seconds, ahead of the Filipino by .005 seconds.

Also registering a silver finish was 400m specialist Ernie Candelario, who finished second behind Taipei's Pan Ming Long (47.72), with his 48.13 clocking. Junrey Bano made it a 2-3 finish for the Filipinos, coming in at 48.61 seconds.

Dandy Gallenero registered a 62.29-m effort in javelin throw, good for the silver, behind Team ZL's Xu Zhao Peng. Emerson Obiena finished fourth in men's pole vault (4.20m).*CPT