Fil-Spaniard John Cabang advanced to the men’s 110-meter hurdles finals to lead Team Philippines’ charge on Thursday, July 13, in the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

John Cabang advances to the medal round of the men's 110m hurdles. (File Photo)

The 22-year-old national record holder clocked 13.70 seconds to share the top of his heat with Japanese Shunya Takayama for a spot in the medal round scheduled on Friday, July 14.

He and Takayama join fellow qualifiers composed of reigning Southeast Asian Games champion Natthaphon Dansungnoen of Thailand, Kazakhstan’s Yefremov David, Kuwait’s Yaqoub Alyouha, China’s Ning Xiaohan and Xu Zhouyi and Japan’s Taiga Yokochi.

Clinton Bautista, however, failed to qualify after timing 13.99sec for fourth place in his heat.

Meanwhile, competing at press time are Tokyo Olympian Kristina Knott in the women’s 100m and Ronne Malipay in men’s triple jump.

On Wednesday afternoon, Frederick Ramirez missed a spot in the men’s 400m final after timing 46.53sec for fifth in the semifinal heat.

Gennah Malapit also finished 13^th and last in the women’s javelin throw with a heave of 43.57m – a far cry from eventual gold medalist Marina Saito of Japan’s 61.67m performance.

In the men’s 10000m, Arlan Arbois settled for 14^th among 16 competitors with a time of 33 minutes and 51.06sec while Sonny Wagdos did not finish the race after experiencing side stitch.

Maureen Schrijvers, meanwhile, was disqualified in the women’s 400m heats due to lane infringement.

On Friday, six-time SEAG champion Eric Cray gun for the gold and a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics when he competes in the preliminaries of the men’s 400m hurdles along with reigning SEAG gold medalist Janry Ubas in men’s long jump, William Morrison in men’s shot put, Sarah Dequinan in women’s heptathlon, Joida Gagnao in women’s 3000m steeplechase and Natalie Uy in women’s pole vault.