At A Glance
- Medal of any color remained elusive for Team Philippines at the 26th Asian Athletics Championships after Ronnie Malipay landed 10th in the men's triple jump on Wednesday, May 28, in Gumi, South Korea.
Medal of any color remained elusive for Team Philippines at the 26th Asian Athletics Championships after Ronnie Malipay landed 10th in the men’s triple jump on Wednesday, May 28, in Gumi, South Korea.
The two-time national champion failed to advance to the Final 8 after leaping 15.73 meters on his second attempt to finish behind Asian Games champion and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Zhu Yaming.
Even if Malipay eclipses his personal-best record of 16.8m he made eight years ago, it still wasn’t enough to make it to the podium as Zhu already showed his dominance early in the competition by registering his best leap of 17.06m on his first attempt. The gold medalist in the 2017 edition of this meet missed his fourth and fifth tries, and passed on his last attempt.
India’s Praveen Chithravel, a bronze winner in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, collected the silver medal with 16.90m he got on his third attempt, while hometown bet and two-time national champion Yu Gyumin finished with the bronze with a season-best performance of 16.82m.
Meanwhile, three more Filipino athletes are competing for the gold at press time with William Morrison battling in men’s shot put, Leonard Grospe in men’s high jump, and Daniella Daytana in women’s discus throw.
Morrison, the country’s national record-holder, is coming off a golden performance at the Philippine Open early this month where he posted his season-best 18.81m.
Grospe, another PH record-holder, hopes to eclipse his performance of 2.05m in the qualifications last Tuesday, May 27, as well as his season-best feat of 2.12 at the PH Open early this month.
Daytana, meanwhile, hopes to defy the odds as she is up against reigning champion Feng Bin of China and last edition’s bronze winner Subenrat Insaeng, to name a few.