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

Muros' influence helps hurdles queen

She marvels at the thought of being dubbed as the heir apparent to a living legend.

But Sheena Atilano, the new queen of Philippine hurdles, shrugs off any comparison to RP athletics great Elma Muros.

“It’s an honor (to be compared to Muros). But of course, there will only be one Elma Muros and it will be hard to equal what she has achieved,” the 27-year-old athlete from the sugar-producing city of La Carlota, Negros Occidental told the Inquirer.

But Atilano, who reset the Philippine standards in the 100-m hurdles with her 13.65 second-clocking in the Asian Athletics Grand Prix, acknowledged Muros’ contributions to her success.

“Kaya mo yan. Tyaga lang, tiis lang, sipag lang,” Muros would remind Atilano during training sessions at the Rizal Memorial oval.

Muros’ positive energy has apparently rubbed off on Atilano, who showed swift improvement, following a four-month training stint in Southern California in the US.

From her previous best of 14.46-seconds, a record she registered in a fifth place finish in the 2005 SEA Games, the 5-6 Atilano churned in a career time of 13.71 seconds in training and track meets in the US, before finally breaking Muros’ 16-year-old record of 13.66 seconds in Pune, India last Wednesday night.

In February, Atilano put her career as a content development associate for online messaging service Chikka Asia Inc., on hold and left for the US to train together with sprinter Ralph Waldy Soguilon under the supervision of Fil-Am coach Jerry Cablayan.

The training apparently has paid dividends for both athletes with Soguilon also breaking the 100-m and 200-m records and Atilano posting silver-bronze-bronze finishes in the three-leg grand prix held in Bangkok and Indian cities Guwahati and Pune.

“I may need to report for work on Tuesday,” she said, jokingly.

But Atilano, whose career touched off with an elementary girls’ long jump gold in the 1993 Palarong Pambansa, said she remains focused on bringing home her first SEA Games gold medal this year from Thailand.

“My target is 13.40 seconds because that was the record of the SEAG winner two years ago,” said Atilano, who defeated SEAG silver medalist Dede Erawati of Indonesia twice in the grand prix.

Concentrating on jumping events early in her career, Atilano started training for the hurdles only on her senior year at Dona Hortensia Salas Benedicto National High School. She made an immediate impact, capturing the gold for Western Visayas in the 1997 Palaro in Bicol.

Instead of moving to Manila, where a number of schools had offered her athletic scholarships and a slot in the national pool was within reach, she returned to Negros and finished with a degree in Management Information Systems from the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod.

Already blessed with a stable job and taking up her masters in special education at De La Salle, Atilano decided to give herself one last shot at athletics glory in 2005.

“I am more focused and determined now when it comes to my athletic career,” said Atilano, who, at 25, was probably one of the oldest athletes to break into the national pool two years ago.

The supposed swan song did not produce a medal in the SEA Games and only left Atilano more motivated.

Good thing, Atilano said, that there were people around her who were very supportive, among them De La Salle’s Terry Capistrano and Muros’ husband, athletics coach Jojo Posadas.

“I’m just blessed with people who are very supportive in my career,” she said.

While Atilano is quick to dismiss any affinity with Muros and is nowhere near the athletics legend’s impressive record of 15 SEA Games gold medals, they share something in common: A passion for athletic excellence.

“I just want to excel and maximize my talent. This is my passion and it gives me self satisfaction,” Atilano added. *Cedelf P. Tupas

Atilano shatters 16-year-old hurdles mark

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

Negros athletes to compete in HongKong meet

Four national athletes from Negros Occidental step up their preparation for the Southeast Asian Games when they see action in the HongKong Inter-City Challenge on the first week of July.

Arniel Ferrera, the SEA Games hammer throw king from Cauayan, Negros Occidental, last night said that he will compete in HongKong together with Loralie Amahit of Binalbagan, Arnold Villarube of Escalante and Julius Sermona of Himamaylan.

Amahit is the country’s best bet in women’s hammer throw, while Sermona’s specialty is the 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer events, Ferrera, who holds the SEA Games mark of 60.47-meters, said.

Villarube, on the other hand, is one of the top sprinters in the country and may vie in the 100-m event as well as the 4x100-m relay, Ferrera added.

The Cauayan-born athlete also said that Joebert Delicano, who hails from Victorias City, will not be part of the 15-man Philippine delegation because the long jumper saw action in last month’s Taiwan Open, where he managed to land in the Top Five.
Delicano won a silver medal during the 2005 SEA Games in Manila.

Ferrera said he also hopes that Philippine sports officials will be able to address the lack of vitamins for athletes in the national pool. *Cedelf P. Tupas

Negrense athlete bags 2nd gold in Asian GP

Negrense Sheena Atilano trained for six months in the United States early this year.
And the 27-year-old hurdler from La Carlota City is reaping the benefits of her foreign training, bagging her second medal in the 2007 Asian Athletics Grand Prix at the Indira Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, India Sunday.

Atilano, the only Filipino in the Grand Prix, clocked 13.92 seconds in the 100-m hurdles to win the bronze medal, behind Anastasiya Vinogradova of Kazakhstan (13.05 seconds) and Dedeth Erawati of Indonesia (13.71 seconds).

Although she failed to duplicate her silver medal finish in the Bangkok leg last Wednesday, the 27-year-old Atilano made significant progress, shaving eight tenths from her clocking in Thailand.

Atilano, who recorded her personal-best of 13.71 seconds while competing in track meets in the United States, was awarded $500 for her bronze finish. She has raked in $1,300 so far as the Grand Prix heads to Pune, India today.

Considered as the heir apparent of athletics legend Elma Muros-Posadas, Atilano and RP record holder Ralph Wally Soguilon trained in the United States from January to May.

Twenty-three Asian countries are represented in the Asian Grand Prix with the top three finishers in the individual competitions receiving $1,500, $800 and $500. * Cedelf P. Tupas

SEA Games hammer throw king seeks foreign training

Arniel Ferrera, the undisputed Southeast Asian Games hammer throw king from Cauayan, Negros Occidental, last night said he hopes to finally undergo training abroad and get the help of a top-caliber coach as he sets his target of making the Olympics in the next few years.

Citing the improvement of fellow Negrense athlete Sheena Atilano, who trained in the United States for six months early this year, Ferrera said European countries Germany and Russia can be an ideal site for training because of its world-class facilities and coaches.

Ferrera acknowledged that the cost of training in Europe is prohibitive. “But it’s one of the best ways to improve,” he added.

Since establishing the SEA Games and Philippine standard of 60.47-meters in Manila two years ago, the Cauayan athlete has not gone close of surpassing the record, falling short in the Asian Games in Doha by more than a meter.

Atilano of La Carlota City, meanwhile, achieved a personal best of 13.71 seconds in the 100m hurdles, surpassing her previous best of 14.46 seconds, while competing in track and field meets in Southern California.

The Negrense believes the weather in Europe and the competition --- even in training --- can push an athlete to the limit.

He also said hopes to adapt the training being conducted by Russian coaches, who have good technique and have produced world champions.

“I have been tested in the SEA Games so the next step is really to improve on my performance in the next Asian Games. After the Asiad, the next best thing is the Olympics,” Ferrera said, adding that PSC chairman Butch Ramirez has asked him if he can win a medal in the Olympics.

“I told him (Ramirez) that my record is really far behind the Olympic standards and that foreign training would be of great help,” Ferrera said.

The Cauayan-born athlete said that although some quarters have verbally expressed their support for his foreign training, the differences between the PSC and the Philippine Amateur Athletic Association may have shelved the plan.

Nevertheless, Ferrera, a member of the Philippine Air Force, expressed optimism of making a SEA Games hammer throw hat-trick when the biennial meet is held in Thailand from Dec. 5-15.

With the SEAG less than six months away, Ferrera admitted that he has yet to reach peak form, citing his commitments to the PAF that has limited his time off the training ground during the past few months.

“I just got back training three weeks ago,” Ferrera said, but “I’m optimistic I could reach my target in the SEA Games”. *Cedelf P. Tupas