Philippines celebrate marathon double
The Philippines won a marathon double at the Southeast Asian Games
Tuesday to boost their medal haul but Thailand reached a half-century of
golds and remained well clear of the chasing pack.
Eduardo Buenavista took the men’s race in two hours, 21 minutes and
10 seconds, finishing 46 seconds ahead of 2007 winner, Indonesia’s
Yahuza, with Cambodia’s Hem Bunting taking the bronze.
In the women’s race, Jho-An Banayag took gold in 2hrs 46mins 34secs,
edging out defending champion Sunisa Sailomyen of Thailand by 13 seconds
with Myanmar’s Ni Lar San in third place. Malaysia’s Teoh Boon Lim won
the men’s 20-kilometre walk in 1hr 31 mins 28secs and Myanmar’s Kay
Khing Myo Tun took the women’s in 1:45:06.
On a quiet day in track and field, Malaysia’s Tan Song Hwa won the
women’s hammer throw with a SEA Games record of 56.41 metres and
Thailand’s Supanara Sukhasvasti Na Ayudhaya took gold in the men’s long
jump.
Thailand, who topped the medals table in 2007, are on 51 golds
overall, including eight in athletics and eight in shooting, eight clear
of Vietnam in second place, with Singapore on 31. Elsewhere Tuesday
table tennis powerhouse Singapore took both singles golds in two
all-Singapore finals with Gao Ning winning the men’s singles and Feng
Tianwei the women’s event.
They were only denied a clean sweep of all seven golds by Vietnam,
who had previously won the men’s doubles.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s football coach K. Rajagobal said his players
had earned their place in the final of the under-23 competition after
overcoming the host nation 3-1 in a fanatically partisan stadium on
Monday.
“The players did a good job and we deserved to be in the final,” he
said, according to the New Straits Times.
“In the second half, I knew Laos would come at us but we began to
lose a bit of organisation.
“The game was drifting away from us when they equalised but the
players showed character, believed in themselves and got the second goal
before the third goal followed.”
Malaysia will meet Vietnam in the final, who defeated Singapore 4-1.
SEA Games organising committee chairman Somsavat Lengsavad said the
games would boost sport in Laos, who, with 22 golds so far, are closing
in on their pre-Games target of 25.
VIENTIANE, Tuesday, AFP
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