UNLIKE last year when they competed in Vietnam with limited training and overseas exposure due to the pandemic, national athletics head coach Jojo Posadas now confidently says Filipino campaigners can win as many as 10 gold medals in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Game in May,
“We are still figuring out our projections but we can win a minimum of seven to eight golds and as many as 10 golds,” Posadas said during the Philippine Sportswriters Association forum last Tuesday.
Despite their short training and lack of international competition, Pinoy bets still brought home five gold, seven silver and 14 bronze medals, good enough for third overall in the seven-nation Vietnam SEA Games trackfest in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.
The mints came from pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, shot putter Willie Morrison III, 400-meter hurdles king Eric Shawn Cray, and men’s 110-meter hurdler Clinton Kingsley Bautista who all retained their titles; along with Fil-Am sprinter Kayla Richardson, who topped the women’s century dash.
Posadas named Obiena, Morrison, and Cray as shoo-ins for the gold in Vietnam; Bautista could face Fil-Spanish compatriot John Cabang for the men’s 110-meter hurdles gold; while comebacking Natalie Uy, who holds the women’s SEA Games pole vault mark of 4.25 meters, is another potential gold medalist.
He also noted that Kristina Knott and Richardson could figure prominently in both the century dash and 200-meter races while Fil-Am Umajesty Williams is another solid gold prospect in the men’s 400-meter run.
Williams has a personal best of 45.76 seconds, surpassing the gold-medal winning time of 46.44 seconds of Thai-American Joshua Atkinson in Vietnam.
Posadas also considers the women’s 4×100 and 4×400-meter relay teams as well as the mixed 4×100-meter relay squad as gold medal potentials.
He added that former back-to-back SEA Games men’s decathlon champion Aries Toledo, who was recently released from military training, is fit and raring to go while long-distance runner Eduard Josh Buenavista, the son of noted steeplechaser and marathon runner Eduardo Buenavista, could spring surprises in both the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races.
Posadas said he would have a better outlook of the country’s medal prospects in Cambodia after the ICTSI-Philippine Athletics Championships from March 21 to 26 at the Ilagan Sports Complex in Ilagan, Isabela.
The husband of track great Elma Muros-Posadas, Posadas said they had earlier planned to have one final tune-up meet overseas — the Singapore Open in late April — but decided to forego it because it was too near the Cambodia Games.
“Baka may ma-injure pa sa Singapore Open, so hindi na lang namin itutuloy,” he said.
The Cambodia track meet will be held from May 8 to 13 at the Morodok Techno National Stadium in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
He said they will likely have a three-week training camp before proceeding to Cambodia.
